Odisha announces ToR for task Force to study DQ allotments

Amid a state-wide hue and cry over alleged misuse of discretionary qouta by ruling party politicians, Odisha government today set the term of reference (ToR) for the Task Force formed by it to probe the matter.
"The task force will submit its findings and recommendations to the government within a period of four months," Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Minister Pushpendra Singhdeo told reporters.
Earlier, the state government on August 2 had set up a three member Task Force headed by Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue Disaster Management, Tardutta.
A notification issued by the General Administration (GA) department said "the scope of the review by the Task Force will cover the period from January 1, 1995 to July 31, 2014 in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack urban areas in respect of all cases of allotment of land/flats/houses out of discretionary quota."

"The Task Force will also review allotment of more than one unit of land/flat/house to members of the same family," the notification said.
Simultaneously, the concerned agencies like BDA (Bhubaneswar Development Authority), CDA (Cuttack Development Authority), OSHB (Odisha State Housing Board) and GA Department, would take action on irregular allotment within this period, the notification said.

The state government on August 2 had set up the Task Force in the face of allegation that BJD Rajya Sabha MP Kalpataru Das allegedly acquired three government flats/houses by misusing the discretionary quota.
Meanwhile, Das's MLA son Pranab Balabantray has surrendered two flats to BDA and OSHB taken under discretionary quota.

The standing general administration norms says a family cannot take second plot/flat or house if s/he already has a residential accommodation in the Bhubaneswar Municipality
jurisdiction.
Earlier, the state government had abolished the discretionary quota in December 2011 in the wake of the uproar over minister Bikram Keshari Arukh availing two houses in the capital city under the quota.
Arukh had to surrender one of the two houses he had availed following all-round criticism.