Anup Mukerji

Patna, July 25: Chief secretary Anup Mukerji has given a clean chit to the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) which has been sucked into a controversy following allegations that it had allotted land to relatives or friends of ministers, legislators and bureaucrats.

The chief secretary’s report, submitted to chief minister Nitish Kumar and put up on the government’s website, gives details of the land allotments made to Rahmat Amanullah, daughter of social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah and IAS officer Afzal Amanullah, Urvashi Shahi, daughter of human resource development minister P.K. Shahi, Rahul Kumar, son of JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma, besides five others who have been linked to legislators from the ruling alliance and senior officials.

“These allotments have been made in strict adherence of the law and the persons in question holding the positions of power have played no role whatsoever in the allotment to their wards and relatives,” said principal secretary, industries, C.K. Mishra, quoting from Mukerji’s report.

The Opposition rejected Mukerji’s report. “We, at the outset, had raised our objection to the chief secretary conducting the inquiry into the Biada land scam. We reject his report, which is an eyewash, and reiterate our demand for a CBI inquiry into the scam. We will keep on agitating for a CBI probe into the issue,” state RJD chief Ramchandra Purbey said.

Faced with what appeared to be the biggest controversy in his second term in office, Nitish had ordered the chief secretary to review the allotment of plots to the allottees in question.

The points of reference for the chief secretary were as follows:

• If the relatives of the ministers and bureaucrats whose names have appeared as beneficiaries in the newspapers and news channels have actually been allotted Biada plots

• If the said persons holding high position had played any role in the allotment, and

• If stipulated norms had been violated in the process of making the allotments to the allottees in question.

The chief secretary reviewed the allotments, Mishra said, addressing all the points of reference given to him by the chief minister.

“The people in position of power had played no role in the allotments which had been executed in accordance with the stipulated norms and appropriate processes,” Mishra said.

According to its provisions, Biada allots land to the applicants following go-ahead from the project clearance committee (PCC). The PCC comprises representatives of industrial bodies besides government officials. “There are no provisions for tender or bidding for procuring the allotments,” Mishra said.

The chief secretary reviewed the allotments to eight applicants who were allegedly associated with ministers, bureaucrats and lawmakers.

“No irregularities have been found in the allotment of the Biada plots to any of the eight bodies in question,” Mishra said.