Bhubaneswar: The state government on Tuesday decided to initiate criminal proceedings against those officials, who had taken more than one plot under the discretionary quota by submitting false affidavits.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi while reviewing recommendation of the Taradatt Task Force Committee. In 2014, the government had entrusted Taradatt to conduct an inquiry into the illegal distribution of land and house under the quota.

Taradatt's report had put a number of ruling party MLAs, Opposition leaders, IAS, IPS and OAS officers on a back foot. Later, he was unceremoniously shifted as the director-general of Gopabandhu Academy of Administration. However, the report was put in cold storage far, while Taradatt was retired from service.

A matrix would be prepared on all the plots distributed under the quota. All the cases would be examined in next four months.

Under the quota, 790 plots had been distributed from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority. Out of it, 332 cases have been forwarded to the state vigilance for inquiry and investigation completed in 48 cases. Of these, only two cases faced criminal proceedings.

Earlier, Dharmasala MLA Pranab Balabantaray and parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh had returned houses allotted under the quota.