Discretionary quota row: Task force to submit report in four months

BDA, CDA, OSHB have been asked to take action on irregular allotments within this period

The task force probing into alleged irregularities in allotment of land parcels and houses under discretionary quota would submit its report in four months, a government notification said.

The notification dated August 11 issued by the general administration department, has also spelt out the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the task force headed by Taradatt, additional chief secretary, revenue & disaster management. According to the ToR, the scope of review by the task force will cover the period from January 1, 1995 to July 31, 2014 in urban areas of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in respect of all cases of allotment of land/flats/houses out of discretionary quota. The panel would also probe into the allotment of more than one unit of land/flat/house to members of the same family.

The task force is mandated to submit its findings and recommendations to the government within a period of four months. Concerned agencies like Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Cuttack Development Authority (CDA), Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB) and general administration department have been asked to take action on irregular allotments within this period.

The discretionary quota had kicked up a storm in November 2011 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.

A month later, the state government abolished the system with chief minister Naveen Patnaik asking BDA, CDA and OSHB to stop allotment of land and flats under the discretionary quota with immediate effect.

The then minister for law and rural development Bikram K Arukh who had come under attack for availing two plots under the discretionary quota is believed to have surrendered one of his plots at the Pokhariput locality in the city to BDA.

More recently, the Biju Janata Dals (BJD) Rajya Sabha MP Kalpataru Das drew a barrage of criticism for availing multiple flats/land plots under the discretionary quota. His son Pranab Balabantray, a BJD MLA returned two flats to the BDA.

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.