CAG tells Orissa govt to cancel or acquire houses

Citing the 2012 Supreme Court order cancelling the 20 acre land allotted to filmmaker Subhash Ghaqi for his acting school,Whistling Woods

Citing the 2012 Supreme Court order cancelling the 20 acre land allotted to filmmaker Subhash Ghaqi for his acting school,Whistling Woods,the CAG office has asked the Naveen Patnaik government to cancel,terminate or resume the land or houses allotted in Bhubaneswar under discretionary quota (DQ) of Bhubaneswar Development Authority.

The Indian Express had in January 2012 detailed how houses and plots in Bhubaneswar were dispensed to politicians,High Court and Supreme Court judges,bureaucrats,policemen and journalists under BDAs discretionary quota,in vogue since 1985.

Till December 2011,when the quota was scrapped by Naveen Patnaik government,832 persons had got houses or plots under the discretional quota.

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Over the 26 years,the beneficiaries have included Supreme Court and High Court judges,politicians,IPS/IAS officers,district collectors,bank managers,income tax officials,peons,journalists of vernacular newspapers as well as correspondents and editors of prominent English dailies.

In 1996-97,the then urban development minister Amarnath Pradhan of the Congress gave out 439 plots and houses under the quota. The CAG,which is now doing a performance audit of Development and allotment of land/plot/buildings for residential use by BDA for 2002-12,had in February wrote to the state urban development secretary Injeti Srinivas to cancel/terminate and resume even if constructions have already taken place on the land if the same have been allotted under discretionary quota.

The CAG in the draft audit report has said the DQ system is illegal Under the Orissa Development Authorities Act,1982,the BDA and Cuttack Development Authority have no provision for discretionary allotments by the executive.

The CAG during audit found that no government order or circular existed for introduction of such a scheme in 1985 by the then housing and urban development minister Basant Kumar Biswal under JB Patnaik regime of the Congress. The CAG also advised the government that it may consider filing a caveat before the appropriate court to enable smooth cancellation/termination/resumption of land and other assets even if they belonged to the period prior to the audited period of 2002-2012.

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The department may fix responsibility for all the cases of irregular allotments,transfers and encroachments of land and irregular approval of building plans as pointed out in audit for the period under review and initiate appropriate/punitive action on those responsible so that such irregularities/illegalities do not recur, the letter to the State government said.

It further said auction may be made the guiding principle for allotment of land/assets with exemptions to take care of public utilities for public purposes or for socially and economically backward class of people,which however need to be clearly defined and specified.

Under the Orissa Development Authorities Act,1982,the BDA and Cuttack Development Authority have no provision for discretionary allotments by the Executive.