E-Paper
Plot allotments at old land rates cost GMADA ₹400 crore: ED probe
Plots under Punjab government’s oustee policy provided at 2018 rates until 2025 even as land prices rose nearly threefold in seven years, finds probe
Prefer HTon Google
The Enforcement Directorate’s ongoing money-laundering probe into alleged irregularities at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has revealed that officials continued to allot prime residential plots under the oustee policy at heavily discounted, outdated rates for seven years, costing the Punjab government nearly ₹400 crore.
The irregularities came to light while compiling a comprehensive report last week, said Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials privy to the probe.
Until 2025-26, allotment letters continued to be issued at the 2018 rate of ₹25,000 per square yard, even as land prices rose nearly threefold to ₹65,000 per square yard in seven years, the investigation has found.
The oustee policy is intended to benefit landowners whose land was acquired for development projects. In exchange for acquired land, 441 plots were allotted between 2019 and 2026 — 100 in IT City’s Sector 82 Alpha and 341 in Sector 66 Beta. Another 169 applications remain pending, including 39 in Sector 82 Alpha and 130 in Sector 66 Beta.
During a three-day search at GMADA’s Mohali office last month, the ED had seized records relating to the policy. The agency has separately alleged that manipulation of reserve prices for unsold land parcels could have caused a potential loss of nearly ₹10,000 crore to GMADA and the Punjab government.
Under the oustee policy, notified by the Punjab government’s department of housing and urban development in May 2013, landowners whose property is acquired for residential, institutional, industrial or integrated mixed-land-use projects are provided monetary compensation for the acquired land.
As an additional benefit, oustees are also allotted residential plots at prescribed rates.
Under the 2013 policy, GMADA launched its first oustee plot scheme on August 26, 2013, followed by subsequent schemes in 2018 and 2021.
According to the investigation, GMADA repeatedly revised the prevailing rates for residential plots under its jurisdiction, but estate officers continued issuing allotment letters for these schemes at old rates.
The rate, which stood at ₹25,000 per square yard in 2018-19 and 2019-20, was increased to ₹32,500 in 2021-22, ₹39,000 in 2022-23, ₹42,900 in 2023-24, ₹51,500 in 2024-25 and ₹65,000 in 2025-26.
Vikas Garg, principal secretary, Punjab’s department of housing and urban development, said he was unaware of the issue but would examine it after reviewing the records.
Committee backed old rates in 2020
Also under ED scrutiny is a June 2020 meeting of a committee comprising senior GMADA and PUDA officials, the Estate Officer (Plots) and the authority’s legal adviser, where allotment of plots to oustees and the applicable rates were discussed.
GMADA had advertised a plot scheme for oustees on August 24, 2018, based on the prevailing rates for different schemes. The rates were subsequently revised on June 12, 2019.
The committee took the view that beneficiaries allotted plots under the oustee quota in IT City’s Sector 82 Alpha and Sector 66 Beta should be charged ₹25,000 per square yard, as fixed by GMADA on June 12, 2019.
The committee also noted that allotment letters for applications invited in 2018 had not been issued. It directed the then Estate Officer (Plots) to issue allotment letters to all successful applicants under the schemes launched in 2013 and 2018 within 15 days. However, ED’s official note records that the directions were not followed and allotment letters continued to be issued over subsequent years.
The investigation has also flagged procedural shortcomings, including the inclusion of applicants in the draw of lots without proper scrutiny of their documents and failure to issue Letters of Intent (LOIs) within the timelines prescribed in the scheme brochures.
