To

Sri Nabin Patnaik Date-25.8.14

Chief Minister, Odisha
Bhubaneswar.

Sub- Memorandum for CBI Inquiry into massive corruption and irregularities in respect of allotment
of Government land, houses and Plots to Ministers, MLAs, bureaucrats and other beneficiaries by
Dept. of General Administration, Office of IDCO, BDA and CDA etc.

Sir,

We, the following Civil Society Groups working for a corruption-free and transparent system of
governance in Odisha would like to bring to your kind notice the following matters in connection with
the above mentioned subject, for seeking your immediate intervention for an appropriate remedial
action.

Aware as you are, the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG), Govt. of India has produced three
volumes of Performance Audit Report ( General and Social Sector) on the allotment of Government
land by Dept. of GA, and such agencies of the Government as IDCO, CDA and BDA to different
categories of people and Institutions during the period 2000-2012. This report has exposed in graphic
details the instances of corruption, irregularities, undue favour, violation of law and arbitrariness in
respect of allotment of Government land to the Individuals, Private Educational Institutions, Hospitals
and Hotels among others. The CAG has also pointed out a systemic failure as evident from callousness
and inefficiency along with complicity of the administration, which has resulted in revenue loss to the
State exchequer amounting to a staggering sum of thousands of crore rupees. For your kind information,
the CAG Expose is just a tip of the iceberg as its audit was limited to only a few Test cases. With
undeniable proofs and evidences, it has also brought to the limelight how a dubious nexus among the
vested interests of the politicians, bureaucrats and business class has been systematically working to
loot and plunder the public wealth of Odisha. In quite many cases, your Ministers, MLAS and Officers
were not only involved in amassing huge fortunes for themselves by corrupt means, but also served as
masterminds for allotting prized lands to private companies and institutions at throw-away price. As a
part of their machinations, they didnt make any revision of premium amount for the land price that
was fixed 11 years back and thus deliberately kept it much lower than the present value of the land so
as to please the the allottees of their choice, possibly in lieu of some kickbacks. No wonder that quite
some Ministers, MLAs and Officers themselves have grabbed two to three plots each under the cover of
this or that land allotment scheme including the provision of so-called Discretionary Quota.

As you might further know, after the above mentioned land scams hugged the media highlight followed
by a huge public outrage over it, one MLA Sri Pranab Balabantray who had taken several plots of land by
way of filing false affidavits has already returned two plots to the Government. But, strangely enough,
the State Govt. has not yet initiated any legal action against his act of fraudulence. It is disconcerting
that we come across daily a flood of sensational news in media on this or that land scam involving the
politicians, officers and employees of the Govt. .

It is true that in order to assuage the public outrage, your august office has constituted a Task Force to
investigate into the cases of illegal land transfer to different persons and entities. But, as it might have
struck your notice, the very bona fides of the members of Task Force in terms of honesty and integrity
has been questioned in public domain. The opposition political parties have also raised serious questions
about the honesty and integrity of the TF members.

It is worth reminding you further that the CAG Report is only a limited expose of land scams covering a
few Test Cases of 2000 to 2012, but the scandals of corruption and irregularities in allotment of
Government land had already surfaced in the earlier periods, such as 1980 to 1990 and 1990 to 2000.
For instance, during such periods, a good number of officers like Sri Tarun Kanti Mishra, Chief
Information Commissioner Odisha and Sri Bijay Kumar Sharma, Addl. DGP Odisha had illegally grabbed
land in the name of their wives by way of filing false affidavits.

Besides, undue favours have been shown by your Govt. to private companies and educational
institutions like KIIT by way of allotting several acres of land at throw away price in violation of the
laws and norms in force. So to so, the KIIT has become the biggest land grabber in Bhubaneswar.

Under the circumstances, what is required is a a genuinely impartial and time-bound inquiry into the
whole lot of land scams in Odisha. You would agree, the CBI is the only efficient investigative agency to
enquire into the numerous land scams that have rocked the State. This fact has also been proved in
Chit fund scam in Odisha, which is being currently enquired into by the CBI..

Sir, you have always professed clean and transparent governance for Govt. and the people have also
voted you to power 4 times for the said reason. In earlier years you have not spared a single minister or
officer, as and when you have found any complaints of corruption lodged against them prima facie
genuine.

We therefore request you to constitute a CBI Inquiry into the land scams of Odisha as mentioned
above, within a given timeframe. Such a bold measure on your part will certainly help strengthening the
administration, putting the culprits behind the bars and bringing back the lost revenues to the state
exchequer. We also request you to immediately take due action against the MLAs, Ministers and other
party leaders whose complicity in land scams has already been exposed and initiate both criminal and
disciplinary proceedings against those officers who have either grabbed land for themselves or
connived with the land grabbers by abusing their public offices. The erring MLAs, MPs and Ministers
may be asked to resign from their existing membership.

Last but not the least, we also request you to order the display suo motu of the details of land assets
owned presently by all the Government servants starting from Chief secretary to Panchayat Peon
showing the sources of the acquisition including the allotment of Government land if any, on a specially
launched website of the Government, basing upon the affidavits to be filed by the concerned
Government servants.

Thanking you

Yours sincerely


List of Names of the Organisations and Signatures


Pradip Pradhan State Convener, Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan
Sachikant Pradhan, Odisha Nagarik Samaj
Sri Sudhir Mohanty, Odisha Durniti Sangharsh Manch
Sri Malaya Tripathy, India Against Corruption, Odisha
Sri Kahnu Ch. Beura, Proutist International,
Smt. Mamata Samataray, State Progressive Womens Forum,
Sri Bijay Parida, Odisha Janaadhikar Parishad
Sri Pratap Sahu, Odisha Basti Sangharsh Samiti,
Sri Arun Jena, Chasi Ekta Manch,
Sri Jayant Das, Convener, Chit Fund affected Persons Forum
Sri Ashok Nanda, Odisha Loka Samukhya
Sri Sudarshan Chhotaray, Odisha Jana Adhikar Parishad
Sri Seshadev Nanda, Naba Nirman Samiti
Odisha International Centre
Odisha Swabhiman Manch
Milita Odisha Nisha Nibarana Manch