Cuttack, June 23: The development authority has started the process of cancelling additional plots allotted under the discretionary quota.

“As part of the process, we have started issuing notices to beneficiaries of multiple allotments under the discretionary quota, asking them to explain within a month why the additional plots in their name or of their spouses shall not be cancelled,” Pratap Das, vice-chairman of the Cuttack Development Authority told The Telegraph today.

The state government had formed a task force to examine the irregularities in the allotment of land, flats and houses under the quota from January 1, 1995 in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The panel was also asked to review the allotment of more than one plot, flat or house to the members of the same family.

The task force submitted its report on November 3, 2014. Subsequently, the state government passed a resolution to implement it on January 30. “In case of multiple allotments, the additional units given to ineligible individuals or families as pointed out by the task force in its report be cancelled and returned to the authorities concerned,” the resolution reads.
Das said: “Around 200 beneficiaries have been identified so far — whose allotments will be cancelled. In the first phase, notices have been issued to 30 of them.”

“More showcause notices will follow in cases of beneficiaries, who had submitted false affidavits to get plots under he quota,” he said.

Official sources said the 30 notices had been issued to 10 people at Sector XI, eight at Sector XIII, six at Sector VII and five at Sector X of Bidanasi Housing Project.

As part of the implementation of the task force report, the state vigilance is also probing into those allotments under the quota, in which false affidavits had been submitted to get multiple plots.

Orissa High Court yesterday refused to hear a petition challenging the legality of the state government’s resolution to implement the task force report. The court asked the counsel to withdraw the petition, as the person had no locus standi.
In her petition, Minati Sasmal, 60, cited “non-application of mind” in the recommendation of the task force for cancellation of all allotments made under the quota by the housing and urban development ministers between February 22, 1999 and May 17, 2004, by the Bhubaneswar Development Corporation and its Cutack counterpart.

The petitioner had said: “There is no requirement of a fresh notification. The task force report declaring illegal allotment of plots by the chairman, who is holding office in the ex-officio capacity by virtue of the initial notification, is a sheer outcome of non-application of mind and, therefore, is liable to be quashed.”