Andhra orders CBI probe into land deal with IMG Bharat

The Andhra Pradesh government today announced yet another CBI inquiry, this time into the 'non-transparent' deal entered with IMG Bharata (IMGB) by the previous government.

The government also issued a special ordinance resuming the 400-acre land sold to the company and annulling all other transactions.

The previous government had signed an MoU in August 2003, with IMG Bharat, claimed to be an Indian subsidiary of Florida-based IMG International allocating 850 acres of land apart from entrusting to it the management of the entire stadia properties in Hyderabad except Lal Bahadur stadium.

Of the total land allotted, about 400 acres was given to the company as an advance possession in the prime Gachibowli area.

Announcing the state cabinet's decision to order a CBI probe into the deal, state information and public relations minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir said both the decisions were taken in accordance with the findings of the cabinet sub-committee as well as an official-level committee that were constituted to study the deal.

A government statement said the land was sold to IMGB in a non-transparent manner at an abnormally low price of Rs 50,000 per acre in addition to agreeing to sell away 450 acres at the rate of Rs 25,000 per acre.

"These transactions, which are unconscionable and not in pubic interest, are proposed to be annulled by means of an ordinance," the statement said.

While terming the land sale by 'a caretaker government in February 2004' as illegal, the state government maintained that even after more than two-and-a-half years, the private party had not initiated any developmental activities with regard to sports for which purpose the land was sold to it.

The government also questioned the claim of IMG Bharat being a subsidiary of IMG East and part of the family of IMG International.

In yet another major decision, the state government proposed to resume the assigned lands which were given to SCs and weaker sections in the past, in case the restoration of the said land to the original assignee or his heir is not possible, through an ordinance to amend the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands(Prohibition of Transfer) Act 1997.

The move is expected to create ripples since there is said to be about 10,000 acres of assigned lands around Hyderabad alone and most of which has already been transformed into real estate property.

The state cabinet, which met here today, also decided to cancel leasing of 2,000 acres of government land to a Chittoor-based company in Nellore district by the previous government in 2003 on the ground that the company had failed to use the land for the purpose for which it got the land.