Judicial Probe Ordered Against Neera Yadav Over Land Scam

The Uttar Pradesh government yesterday decided to institute a judicial inquiry into alleged involvement of former New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) chairperson Neera Yadav, who is a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, in a land scam in Ghaziabad district.

The inquiry would look into allegations of irregular and illegal allotment of plots or shops or any other property during Yadavs tenure as Noida chairperson.

The probe would be conducted by a retired chief justice or a judge of the Allahabad High Court, an official release said. The name of the judge is expected to be announced in a day or two.

 

Observers say that the judicial commission is never constituted to inquire into the conduct of one person.. Such commissions are standard tactics to stall/ delay an inquiry. They cite the case of Ibrahan commission constituted to go into the Ayodhya incidents. It took a full one year for the commission of find even a room for itself. None has heard of itever since.

The one-man inquiry commission, set up under Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, would submit its report within three months.

The commission will also be asked to suggest remedial measures to bring about transparency and streamline procedures for land allotment.

The state governments decision to order a judicial probe comes in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBIs) preliminary report on the land scam. The release said that the government had received allegations of corruption in allotment of plots or shops in Noida during Yadavs tenure. The CBI has also informed it about alleged involvement of Yadav in the land scam, the release added.

Since the matter was of public importance, Governor Romesh Bhandari has decided to institute an inquiry into the matter, the release said.

According to Raj Bhawan sources, as the alleged scandal involved the names of several senior officers of the state government, a judicial inquiry was preferred instead of a probe by the state vigilance establishment.

Yadav herself had alleged before newspersons recently that several senior IAS officers of the state had grabbed plots in Noida. Yadav last week released a list of over 70 officials and their kith and kin, who, she alleged, had sought favour in allotment of land in Noida.

The sources said that it was probably for the first time that the CBI had drawn the attention of the state government towards some case of alleged corruption and suggested proper inquiry into it.

Normally, the CBI takes cognisance of any case only at the behest of the state government, the sources said.

Meanwhile, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament, Raj Nath Singh, filed a public interest litigation in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court demanding an inquiry into the scandal.

The beneficiaries named by Singh in his litigation includes one of the daughters of the Governor, who has denied the allegation. His daughter has filed a case of criminal defamation case against Singh.

The case is now listed for hearing on January 17.