Land Looteras of Odisha

( Bulletin-8)

Improper grant of concession ( through kickbacks, bribe,
favouritism, nepotism) has caused huge revenue loss to State
Exchequer
Dear friends

In November 2000, the Department of General Administration constituted an
Empowered Committee ( EC) to consider eligibility of applications received for
allotment of land at concessional rate/free of premium basis. The prescribed
criteria for eligibility stipulated that

The views of the concerned Department were to be obtained prior to
the matter being placed before the committee.
The concession was to be to the extent of 25 per cent or 50 per
cent of the premium rather than full waiver.
The said concession should only be extended to institutions which
would provide free service and there was no scope for making any
kind profit.

CAG Report on GA land has exposed that the undue favour has been
granted to different Institutions ignoring the abovementioned the
prescribed eligibility parameters in sanction of concession. I cite herewith
few cases for readers view.

(Rs. In
crores)
Sl.No Name of the
allottee
Area
allotted (
in acre)
Rate of
premium
per acre
Premium
to be
charged
Percentage
of
concession
allowed
Concession
allowed
1 DAV Public 2.000 0.25 0.50 50 0.25
School,
Kalinga
Nagar
2 Gurukul,
Ghatikia
2.000 0.25 0.50 80 0.40
3 Bhubaneswar
Eye Research
Institute
10.000 0.25 2.50 80 2.00

The procedure followed for granting concession to these Institutes
is as follows.

1. DAV public school, Kalinganagar, applied (August 2001) for allotment
of 3.461 acre land in Kalinganagar for construction of school building.
Accordingly, the land was allotted (August 2003) by the GA Department at a
premium of Rs. 50 lakh upon recommendation of the SSC. On receipt of
allotment order, the School applied (December 2009) for concession and the
Empowered Committee, acceded to 50 percent concession of premium
without obtaining the views of the concerned Administrative Department.
The Finance Minister objected (November, 2004) to the concession as the
school was functioning in a commercial basis. However, the Government
approved (September 2005) the concession and a fresh allotment order was
issued (October 2005 ) at concessional rate , resulting in undue benefit of
Rs. 25 lakh to the lessee. It was also noticed that another school ( school
of Integral Education, Bhimpur ) which applied for concession , was denied
without any reason in spite of recommendation of the EC stating the quality
education would be available in that area.

2. Application was received for 2-3 acre land for establishment of
Gurukul ( a music school) in Bhubaneswar. Tourism Dept. also
recommended allotment of the land on the basis of which the GA
Dept. proposed ( Feb. 2003 ) allotment of 1.000 acre land in Kalinga Nagar,
Ghatikia on the submission of detailed project report and land use plan by
the applicant. The Applicant made a representation that one are of land
under BMC area would be sufficient. However, the SSC ( Site Selection
Committee ) recommended ( Dec. 2003) allotment of 2.000 acre of land in
the said area. The lessee was also charged less premium at Rs. 50
lakh against the prevalent market value of the land of Rs. 84.44 lakh. It was
also noticed by CAG that just one day after the allotment ( 25 February 2004
) , the Empowered Committee ( EC ) recommended concession up to 50
percent of the premium without any such recommendation from Tourism
Dept. , which was further enhanced ( August 2004 ) to 80 Per cent by the
Cabinet.

3. One Individual applied ( October 2003 ) to GA department for
allotment of 10.000 acre of land for establishment of Bhubaneswar Eye
Research Institute ( BERI ) on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar The SSC
recommended ( December 2003 0 allotment of 5.000 acre land at Patia and
reserve another 5.000 acre for expansion of the institute. After
recommendation of the SSC, 5.000 acre land was allotted within four
months.The GA Dept. charged a lease premium of Rs. 25 lakh per acre.
However, the Empowered Committee recommended 50 per
cent concession on the premium. The establishment of a super speciality
eye care and research institute was in the interest of the people of Odisha .
Later, the BERI requested for another 5.000 acre which was allotted (
August 2004) at a concessional premium of 80 percent by the Cabinet. By
the way, the applicant was given undue benefit in the form of allotment of
valuable land in prime location of the city , reservation of land for
future us and approval of 80 percent on lease concession. Besides , the
lessee was also extended undue benefit of Rs. 10.44 crore due
to charging of lease premium at Rs. 50 lakh per acre against the
prevalent market value of the land of Rs. 1.09 per acre.


Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date-10.9.14