Neera Yadav, once Uttar Pradesh’s most powerful bureaucrat, has surrendered three prime plots in Noida, less than a month after the Supreme Court termed the allotments “arbitrary” and sought to know why they should not be quashed.
“She surrendered all three plots to the authority, which took back possession of this prime land,” Ravinder Singh Yadav, officer on special duty, New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) said on Thursday.
At prevailing rates, the three plots are estimated to be worth Rs 40 crore.
Neera Yadav, UP’s former chief secretary and former chairperson of Noida, is out on bail after being handed three years’ imprisonment by a CBI court in November 2012 in connection with the land allotment scam.
As Noida chairperson, the IAS officer — considered close to Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav — had allotted one plot for herself, two for her daughters in 1994 under a housing scheme.
She got a 450 sq mt plot for herself in sector 32. Her two daughters got plots in sector 44, 51. Mulayam Singh Yadav was then the chief minister.
Because sector 32 could not be developed for housing, Neera Yadav interchanged her plot to posh sector 14A. What’s more, she merged a 112.5 sq mt plot into her 450 sq mt plot. She also interchanged her daughters’ plot locations.
Because sector 32 could not be developed for housing, Neera Yadav interchanged her plot to posh sector 14A. What’s more, she merged a 112.5 sq mt plot into her 450 sq mt plot. She also interchanged her daughters’ plot locations.
The Noida entrepreneur association challenged the plot conversion through a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court, which ordered several inquiries, including by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI found the plot conversion faulty.
Subsequently, the authority cancelled the conversion, but the original allotment remained.
On November 28, a Supreme Court bench headed by justice GS Singhvi had issued notices to Neera Yadav and her daughters and asked why the allotments should not be quashed.
The apex court’s notices were also issued to former SP leader Amar Singh and another IAS officer, Rajiv Kumar, who got plots under the 1994 scheme.
The court had sought their responses within six weeks.