SIT starts probe into ₹91 crore compensation scam in Noida

The case pertains to wrongful claims for compensation, to the tune of ₹91.81 crore, from village Gheja Tilaptabad located along Noida-Greater Noida Expressway

The special task force (SIT) formed by the Uttar Pradesh government, on the directions of the Supreme Court, has started to probe into the irregularities in the awarding of land compensation amounting to ₹91.81 crore in Noida. Its officials on Thursday collected records and files pertaining to the matter, besides holding a meeting at the Sector 6 office.

The Supreme Court order on October 5 came in a case in which a former legal officer of Noida authority was accused of wrongfully sanctioning a compensation of ₹7.28 crore in a land acquisition case, 22 years after it stood paid. (Representational image)

SIT members -- chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Revenue Hemant Rao, Meerut division commissioner Selva Kumari, and additional director general of police ( Meerut Zone) Rajeev Sabharwal -- discussed the details of the case with Noida authority CEO Lokesh M and other senior officials.

The case pertains to wrongful claims for compensation, to the tune of ₹91.81 crore, from village Gheja Tilaptabad located along Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.

The Supreme Court order on October 5 came in a case in which a former legal officer of Noida authority was accused of wrongfully sanctioning a compensation of ₹7.28 crore in a land acquisition case, 22 years after it stood paid.

The top court observed that besides this case, the state government was also not probing 12 other instances of wrongful claims, which were revealed by the Noida authority in its affidavit filed before the court in April this year. The court said a probe by an independent agency would be necessary to ascertain the involvement of higher-ups in the matter.

The bench of justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta had said, “Who has tied your hands? Where is your accountability? It is not a question of one case alone. We find the state is doing nothing despite Noida authority claiming that money to the tune of ₹100 crore has been siphoned off. After all, this is public money. It is your duty to find out if there are other cases.”

“The SIT has been camping in Noida since the past two days. We provided them the required files and also other information pertaining to the case. Now, we will do the needful as per the court order,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

In February 2021, the authority came to know that its two law officers -- legal officer Dinesh Kumar Singh and assistant legal officer Virender Singh Nagar -- claimed land compensation in the name of a farmer by using forged documents to siphoning off taxpayers’ money, said Noida officials.

Subsequently the authority had filed FIR against them but a detailed probe was not conducted.

Till the next date of hearing, the court protected the accused officers from arrest in the first information report (FIR) pending before the Sector 20 police station in Noida.

MULTIPLE CASES OF FRAUD

The acquisition of the land in question was done in 1982 and the owner was paid compensation for his 10-15 bigha land (one bigha is about 850 square metres) at the rate of ₹10.12 per square yard. Not satisfied with this amount, the owner approached the district court in Ghaziabad for enhanced compensation. In 1993, the court directed the Noida authority to pay the owner at the rate of ₹16.61 per square yard. This was done and the claim stood settled.

Much later, in 2015, Ramwati, the legal heir of the owner, filed an appeal before the Allahabad high court to reopen the compensation but the same was dismissed.

The same year, the Noida authority agreed to settle all pending claims with landowners by providing compensation at ₹297 per square yard. According to the police FIR, Dinesh Kumar Singh, along with the other accused, filed an appeal against the dismissal of Ramwati’s compensation claim to show the appeal as pending and paid ₹7.28 crore to settle a claim that was never filed by the claimant in the first place. These two officials followed the same modus operandi in claiming compensation in 11 other instances.

“We have questioned the legal department officials as to how this happened and also collected the files related with this scam. We will complete the probe and submit the same before the UP government that will further put it before the SC as per the direction,” said a state government official aware of the probe, asking not to be named.