In a severe indictment of the Uttar Pradesh government, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday ordered to remove the chief executive officer (CEO) and vice-chairman of the Noida authority. It also directed a CBI probe into the allegations of corruption against them.
The court passed the order acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) which alleged that during the Samajwadi Party regime in 2005-06, the two officials had converted land use of large tracts of plots in Noida and sold them to hoteliers at throwaway prices, causing a loss of around Rs 5,000 crore to the public exchequer.
While ordering immediate removal of the Noida CEO Sanjiv Saran and the vice-chairman Rakesh Bahadur, the court also directed that they should not be posted anywhere in the western UP region.
The court has also asked the CBI to investigate corruption allegations and submit a status report to it within six months.
In the PIL it was contended that the two officials had changed the land use of industrial plots to commercial ones and sold them to hoteliers at cheap rates.
Over-priced land
The market rate of the land was around Rs 1.7 lakh per square metre while they were sold at Rs 7,400 per square metre.
In 2007, the Mayawati regime had suspended them and also got an FIR registered against them.
Change of govt
But the SP government, soon after assuming power in 2012, reinstated and appointed them on the same position and in the same capacity.
Govt embarassed
The court order is a severe indictment of the Akhilesh Yadav government which chose not only to revoke the suspension of Saran and Bahadur but also gave them the same positions disregarding the charges of irregularities against them.
