Special representative of UN secretary general Margareta Wahlstrom presents citation to chief minister Naveen Patnaik for successful management of Phailin at the state secretariat on Friday. The United Nations has also invited Naveen to take part in its global conference on disaster management in 2015. “Odisha has done excellent work in the evacuation and saving lives. It is a landmark success story in disaster management,” said Wahlstrom. The state government had made elaborate arrangements for evacuation of people, especially after having learnt a cruel lesson during the 1999 super cyclone that wreaked havoc in coastal parts, claiming nearly 10,000 lives. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 20: The state government’s explanatory memorandum on the special report of the Lokpal on land acquisition for the proposed Vedanta university was tabled in the Assembly’s winter session, which was adjourned sine die earlier this week.

The government chose to place the report in the Assembly 11 months after the death of Justice P.K. Patra, the state’s last Lokpal.

Ever since Justice Patra passed away on January 22, the office of the Lokpal has remained vacant. Justice Patra had submitted his special report on land acquisition for the controversial university to the government in March 2010.

Three complaints with regard to irregularities in land acquisition were lodged with the Lokpal in 2008 and an inquiry was conducted. The anti-corruption ombudsman in its report had severely criticised the state government for going ahead with the land acquisition process, but it did not table the report in the Assembly apprehending public criticism.

Miffed the Lokpal had written to the governor about the dilly-dally attitude of the state government on the issue.

The Anil Agarwal Foundation had signed an MoU with the state government on July 19, 2006, to set up the world class Vedanta University on the Puri-Konark marine drive.

But acquisition of land for the project triggered a controversy with the government going the extra mile to put together 7,187.37 acres for the university to be developed by a private company.

Justice Patra had expressed his displeasure on the compliance report of the state government and questioned the legality of the MoU between the government and Vedanta. “It appears from the records that the officials of government of Odisha had acted in a haste to accede to the request of the foundation,” the report said.

Interestingly, during the signing of the MoU, while the then secretary, higher education had attested his full signature to the document, the official who signed on behalf of Vedanta had only put his initials without disclosing his full name.

The Lokpal had concluded that questionable methods were used to acquire the land for Vedanta’s project. He had said that the status of the Vedanta Foundation, which was later converted into Anil Agarwal Foundation, had been wrongly changed from a private to a public company.

The Lokpal found veracity in the contentions of the complainant, Dwarika Mishra, that land acquisition for the Anil Agarwal Foundation by the government was in contravention of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act and the Sri Jagannath Temple Act, 1954. The ombudsman had described the government’s compliance report as completely unsatisfactory and evasive since none of the nine recommendations made by him were complied with.

“The findings given by me on all points have been refused which depicts the ignorance of law by the authorities concerned,” Justice Patra had said.

“If this be the attitude of concerned public servants tantamount to defiance of the order of Lokpal, people of the state will not derive the benefits as contemplated under the statutes,” Justice Patra had stated. The Lokpal had also commented upon attempts to justify the illegalities committed by the concerned public servants.

“I am constrained to record my dissatisfaction for non-compliance of the recommendations,” the Lokpal had said in its report.

In his recommendation, the Lokpal had also suggested that a competent authority should be appointed to investigate into the deal in question to pinpoint persons or public servants responsible for advancing the cause of the foundation in a haste.

It also wanted an inquiry to establish if public servants had been influenced by any representatives of the Anil Agarwal Foundation or any other person.

In its compliance report, the state government had said that since the matter was sub-judice, the findings on all the issues raised by the Lokpal would be included in the Supreme Court’s final judgment. It said that any further elaboration on the issue was being avoided as it might impact the court’s decision.