UP Government stonewalling CAG’s move to audit land allotments in Noida

For the past 10 years the party running the UP Government has been stonewalling requests for auditing Noida land allotments

For the past 10 years the party running the UP Government has been stonewalling requests for auditing Noida land allotments
For the past 10 years the party running the UP Government has been stonewalling requests for auditing Noida land allotments

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]F[/dropcap]or the past 10 years, both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) governments in Uttar Pradesh have been putting roadblocks for a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit of land allotments in Noida. After started auditing irregularities in the land allotment of Gurgaon, CAG and AG’s office of Lucknow were repeatedly demanding the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government for auditing of land allotments in Noida and Greater Noida. According to sources in auditors’ office, the UP government is stonewalling the AG’s move to audit the land allotment of country’s most valued prime locations from 2006.  The AG’s proposal to audit was blocked no less than 10 times by both the SP and the BSP governments, say officials.

According to senior officials in CAG and AG’s office in Lucknow, every time the UP Government rejects their move claiming a “flimsy reason” that there was no financial transaction between the State Government and the town planning authorities of Noida and Greater Noida. The CAG Report of 2004 had indicted the Noida authority and the State Government for allotting huge tracts of land for several big corporates and industries at throwaway prices.

“After this report, from 2006 onwards, we are seeking support and details for auditing land allotments of Noida and Greater Noida from the UP Government. But all our requests were stonewalled by the State Government. For the past 10 years we are getting a stereotyped reply that there is no scope for CAG’s audit as there is no financial transaction between the state and these town planning authorities,” said a senior officer of AG’s office.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]F[/dropcap]ormer top IAS official Neera Yadav is already in prison for irregularities in the land allotments in Noida. Several top officials from UP faced criminal cases for land allotments in Noida, while as usual the politicians skipped.

During the BSP and SP regimes thousands of acres of land has been given for a pittance to several media houses, media barons and pliable journalists. “Hence we lack support from media also,” say auditors, adding that every corporate house including multinationals enjoyed the benevolence of the SP and BSP. “Prima facie, the irregularities seems to be bigger than Gurgaon,” they said.

The auditors point out that the authorities of the Noida and Greater Noida also are not co-operating with the queries sought by them. According to sources, citing the tabling of the CAG Report on the land allotment in Gurgaon in Haryana and the co-operation provided by the state government, the AG’s office in Lucknow will again approach the UP government reiterating their demand.

The auditors point out that the UP state government’s arguments on stonewalling the audit was not correct as per laws. Even if there is no financial transaction, the CAG can conduct Performance Audit of any organization under the Centre or State or having any contract with the State or Centre.

They also point out till date the Government or the Public Accounts Committee of the state legislature has taken any action on their last report on the irregularities of land allotments in Noida, tabled in 2004.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Sir The politicians of UP and Bihar are only in it to line their Pockets.The public are being fooled election after election and they are only goats being led to the slaughter house. How to arouse this gullible people ?

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