No concessional land for institutions

Any non-government organisation wanting to institutionalise its activities on government land would have to take the auction route. ‘‘They have to pick up land directly at auctions held by government agencies. The government cannot be expected to fund philanthropic activities which routinely turn commercial once the prime government land is acquired at a discounted rate,’’ a high-level sources in the Urban Development Ministry said, adding that the Ministry was not equipped to police such violations.

The prospective guidelines of land allotment, which come after the official enquiry into NDA’s allotment of land to favoured institutions—is revolving around the thinking that the ‘‘Union Minister for Urban Development is a temporary trustee of the government land’’ and ‘‘s/he should not have the jurisdiction to recommend allotment of land to non-governmental organisations (philanthropic or religious) or private institutions’’.

Sources say Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy took a strong position that the option of ‘‘discussion, discretion and negotiation’’ on government land is the source of corruption in land allotment and hence has to be done away with.

Henceforth, except for government bodies and ministries—even their requests have to be routed through the Cabinet—no organisation would be entitled to special allotment of government land. The Union government is said to be especially keen do away with proposals and applications for land to cooperative societies which have in recent years led to large-scale corruption and rampant nepotism.

‘‘We are of the firm view that there is no question of allotting government land of which the Centre is the custodian to any cooperation society which in turn only goes into creating personal wealth for a few,’’ a high-level source said.

However, the government would keep the option of constructing or providing land for underprivileged sections, such as the urban poor. In such cases, the ownership of the land would continue to remain with the government through a rental mechanism rather than a lease.