AG seeks action taken report in land allotment cases

The Accountant General (AG) of India has sought action taken report from the state government on the irregular land allotment cases pointed out by the auditor earlier.

In a letter to the state chief secretary, the agency asked the government to give it a timeline to send replies on various objections raised by it.

The Central auditors had pointed out irregularities in allotment of government land by different city development agencies and the General Administration (GA) department of the state government between 2009 and 2012.

In the CAG report for the year ended March 31, 2012, it was mentioned that the GA department allotted 464.47 acres in Bhubaneswar in 337 cases during 2000-2012 to individuals, government offices, government undertakings and private bodies for establishment of hotels, hospitals, educational institutions and NGOs.

Of the 464.47 acres allotted land, non-government institutions/organisations were allotted 183.44 acres by the GA department headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been at helm since 2000.

The CAG also observed that there was no uniformity in disposal of applications, sanction of concession on premium to be paid, changes in land use plan and resumption of encroached land. It said, proclamations inviting public objections as stipulated in Odisha Government Land Settlement Rules were not published in any of the test checked cases.

After finding the irregularities, the auditor had suggested the government to formulate a comprehensive land allotment policy to bring in transparency and systematic approach to dispose of the applications. The policy must aim to fix responsibility upon officials and should have price fixation mechanism, it added in its recommendation.

As the state government sat over the recommendations, the AG said, it will have to initiate a follow up audit as per the instruction of CAG. The follow up audit will be discussed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), it said in the letter. The PAC is headed by Narasimha Mishra, the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.