Ansal API Row: Officials at helm during project launch likely to face the heat
U.P. government probes alleged irregularities in Ansal API project; LDA officials may face scrutiny for oversight and collusion in land sales.
The state government wants the probe into the Ansal API row to focus on what led to the alleged irregularities and which officials concerned overlooked gross anomalies in the project.
As the probe proceeds, the then officials of the Lucknow Development Authority and Housing Board are likely to face the heat as the project was launched in 2005 during their tenure.
Multi-level scrutiny of approval and finalisation of DPRs is likely to put in dock the then officials of the LDA who were looking into the project.
“If any LDA official is found involved in the case, then action will be taken against him also,” said LDA vice- chairman Prathamesh Kumar.
The role of several officials will be under the scanner, including vice-chairmen of the LDA at several stages of the project after its launch in 2005, executive engineers of the development authority who were associated with the project and the then secretary in the Housing Board.
“This is a clear case of collusion between LDA authorities and politicians. This kind of situation should not have taken place had the authorities concerned scrutinised papers carefully, said Vijay Shanker Pandey, former IAS officer.
Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) Navneet Gupta appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is also probing the issue. Gutpa’s main focus will be to find out how many people have got houses/plots in the township and how many of them have got possession. IRP will also find out how many registries have been executed. As Ansal API is also facing charges of illegally selling land allotted under jurisdiction of the Housing Board, IRP will find out how many acres of land the developer has in the township. Along with this, IRP will also try to know how many acres of land have been developed by Ansal API and how much is remaining.
As a large number of complaints were lodged with U.P. RERA against the Ansal API, IRP will try to find out why these complaints were not addressed.
The Avadh Vihar township of the Housing Board is situated next to Ansal API’s Sushant Golf City.
The developer allegedly illegally sold Housing Board’s 74.87-acre land at Barauna village. Ansal API neither returned the land nor paid the cost to the Housing Board. The developer allotted this land to homebuyers illegally.
Lucknow divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob has also directed the LDA to probe the anomalies.
Ansal API had filed a 48-page petition in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), declaring itself bankrupt in February this year.
LDA will challenge Ansal API in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, said Prathamesh Kumar, the vice-chairman of Lucknow Development Authority.
The LDA lodged an FIR against the Ansal API at Gomti Nagar police station on March 5.
The Ansal API high-tech township was approved on May 21, 2005, on 1765 acres at Sultanpur road and its DPR was approved on May 22, 2006.
Thereafter, the project was expanded to 3530 acres on June 3, 2009 and the new DPR was approved on May 18, 2010.
The final project spanning 6465 acres was approved on December 13, 2013 and its DPR was approved by the LDA on May 23, 2015.
However, under the new township policy of the state government, the project was cut down to 4689.79 acres on December 16, 2021 and its DPR was approved on September 27, 2022.
The DPR was handed over to the developer on April 13, 2023 on condition that it will carry out development work in the township.
However, the developer failed to carry out the development work. In the township, 411 acres was also mortgaged with the LDA.
According to the FIR, the developer sold the land mortgaged with the land illegally and did not carry out any development work.
The FIR also said that the developer sold the plots in the township illegally.
The project was to be completed in three phases.