E-Paper
Oustees quota plot allotment in Panchkula: Haryana CM orders FIR, recommends CBI probe
Ordering the registration of a criminal case and a reference for a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in allotment of plots under oustees quota in Panchkula in 2014-15, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on August 19 also instructed the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran administrator to file an FIR in connection with the missing original file
The Haryana government has ordered registration of a first information report (FIR) into the alleged irregularities in allotment of plots under oustees quota in Panchkula in 2014-15 and also recommended a CBI investigation.
Ordering the registration of a criminal case and a reference for a CBI probe, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on August 19 also instructed the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran administrator (HQ) to file an FIR in connection with the missing original file.
HSVP chief administrator and secretary, Home -1, will prepare the case in prescribed pro forma (for CBI probe) and compliance should be ensured before September 5, said the order issued by the chief principal secretary to CM, DS Dhesi.
A similar decision on the file --- for referring the alleged irregularities in plots allotments to the CBI --- was also taken by the CM on June 1, 2020. It, however, never materialised, and curiously, the file pertaining to the matter went missing.
Panchkula MLA had flagged ‘irregularities’
Haryana assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta, who is also Panchkula MLA, had pointed out discrepancies, violation of rules and regulations in the case. The Speaker in representations of 2016 and 2020 to the CM said as per the March 2012 HSVP advertisement, applications were invited from the oustees whose land was acquired for Sector 2 and 6 of Mansa Devi Complex (MDC) in Panchkula whereas the plots were allotted to some other oustees – of Sector 1, 3, 5, 5-A and 5-B of MDC.
“The screening committee in its meeting held on July 18, 2014, considered applications of 129 oustees against which 49 applicants were found eligible. As against 49 eligible applicants, a draw was held only for 13 applicants. In fact, the office had put up a list of 10 plots of one kanal each and 21 plots of 10 marlas each whereas it appears from the proceedings on the file that only 13 slips were put for just allotting as many plots to applicants. As per an October 29, 2015 noting (after holding of draw on September 8, 2015), it is recorded that the documents of only 10 applicants were found to be correct. The draw committee should have considered all 49 applicants. Also, allottees of nine plots sold off their plots to other persons residing at far-away places in other states within 10 days,” the Speaker wrote alleging misuse of power.
IAS officer Verma had also sought CBI probe
An IAS officer, Sanjeev Verma, who was the HSVP administrator, Panchkula, when the draw was organised, had also sought a CBI probe into the matter. Verma, in a 2020 communication to the principal secretary to the chief minister, wrote that allegations of irregularities levelled by the Speaker were false.
“The undersigned (Sanjeev Verma) had already made a request in 2016 for a CBI probe following which HUDA chief administrator sent the matter to the CM,” Verma wrote in his communication.
The officer also wrote that the allegations that Panchkula MLA was pressuring HUDA authorities for allotment of a plot in Sector 6, MDC, Panchkula, to Kiran Manchanda --- the real sister of DP Soni, personal assistant to Gupta --- despite not being eligible, should also be investigated by the CBI. Verma wrote that whether the 13 plots allotted to farmers under oustees policy were “usurped by bureaucrats, politicians or property dealers at throwaway prices” be also probed by the CBI.
