AG asks Odisha to scrap irregular allotments in discretionary quota

Auditor cites SC order on 'Whistling Woods' case

The controversial allotment of plots under the erstwhile 'discretionary quota' has brought in fresh trouble for the Odisha government.

Though the state government abolished the system in December 2011 to avoid controversies, the office of the state Accountant General (AG) has urged the government to scrap all irregular allotments made under the quota even if construction has been raised on such land.

"All irregular allotment of plots including those under discretionary quota without any authority of law or government should be cancelled, terminated and resumed even if constructions have already taken place on the said land. This is in view of the apex court's judgement upholding the orders of the Bombay High Court which held such allotments to be arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal in the cases of Mukta Arts Ltd. Similar action may be taken for allotment of apartments/flats”, Amar Patnaik, accountant general (Odisha) wrote to Injeti Srinivas, principal secretary (housing & urban development).

The AG has cited the Supreme Court order of April 2012 that upheld the  Bombay High Court judgement that the allotment of 20 acre of land in Film City for film maker Subhas Ghai's acting school Whistling Woods was 'illegal, arbitrary and without authority of law.' The land deal was described by the  apex court as "The largesse of a state doled out at the behest of the chief minister at a paltry sum to a blue-eyed boy."

In November 2011, the ‘discretionary quota’ kicked up a storm in Odisha in the aftermath of an investigative exposure by a leading national news channel. Ministers, bureaucrats, former and sitting judges, top cops and even journalists were beneficiaries of this quota which had landed the government in deep embarrassment.

The then minister for law and rural development Bikram K Arukh had come under attack for availing two plots under the discretionary quota.

The name of senior BJP leader K V Singhdeo figured along with his former ministerial colleague Samir Dey and BJD leader Badri Narayan Patra in an exposure by a leading national news channel. The allegations centred around offering flats and land parcels to sitting and former judges as well as IPS officers and bureaucrats at concessional rates through use of minister's discretionary quota.

The discretionary quota stood at 10% for BDA and five% for Cuttack Development Authority (CDA).

The AG 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 led Congress regime.

Till December 2011, when the quota was scrapped by the state government, 832 persons had got core houses or plots under the discretionary quota system.