Law department to examine 14 acres of land to KIIT: IDCO

Hit by controversy over allotment of 14 acres land to a group of city-based educational institutions, the Odisha government today said the law department will examine the matter.
The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the High Level Land Acquisition committee chaired by Chief Secretary G C Pati.
"It was decided to refer the matter relating to the allotment of 14 acres of land to KIIT, to the Law department. Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue department, has suggested to place the matter before the law department," Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) chairman Vishal Dev told reporters after the meeting.

While IDCO had allotted the land to the group in June, 2014, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra had raised questions about transparency in the process last month.
Demanding a CBI probe into entire land scam, Mohapatra alleged that soon after assuming office on May 21, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik regularised 14 acres of land which was under occupation of KIIT.
The CAG in its report tabled in the state Assembly on June 23, had also stated that in 2010, KIIT had applied for allotment of the 14 acres of land adjacent to its own plots in Chandaka industrial area.

In another development, IDCO chairman Vishal Dev said the state government has initiated legal process to retrieve land given to 200 persons for setting up industries in Mancheswar and Chandaka Industrial estates of Bhubaneswar.

Those 200 persons were found misutilising or not utilising the land meant for industries, Dev said.
Talking to reporters, Dev said the government has taken steps to get back the land from those who have not utilised it for setting up industries.