Two PILs have been filed in the Patna high court in connection with the alleged industrial land “scam” in Bihar that involved allotment of prime industrial plots to relatives and acquaintances of ministers and bureaucrats allegedly in violation of rules.
While the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-BJP government resolutely ruled out any irregularities and justified the allotment of plots by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) earlier this week, the PILs have sought the judiciary’s orders for a CBI inquiry into the allotments and cancellation of the controversial allotments.
The first PIL, filed by former RJD legislator Satish Paswan on Thursday, urged the court to order a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities that, according to the petitioner, ensured that only a chosen few among the ruling elite were allotted the prime plots at prices much lower than the market rates. A CBI probe can only bring to light the alleged large scale of the irregularities, said the PIL by the former MLA from Pipra in East Champaran district.
The second PIL, filed by former Samata Party leader P.K. Sinha and social activist Sarwar Khan Warsi on Friday, sought the court’s order for cancellation of all allotments of BIADA plots made after December 27, 2007, when a change in the BIADA’s rules was incorporated by the state government. The court’s intervention was sought for a probe to determine who exactly brought in this change that made the practice of tenders for BIADA land allotments redundant.
Opposition parties have been demanding a CBI probe into the alleged BIADA irregularities that, they claim, caused the state exchequer huge financial losses. But a probe, ordered by Mr Nitish Kumar and conducted by chief secretary Anup Mukherjee, concluded on Monday that the allotment of BIADA plots were done in accordance of the rules in complete transparency.
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Give security to lawyers: C’garh court
Rabindra Nath Choudhury
Raipur
July 30: In a significant development, the Chhattisgarh high court at Bilashpur, 120 km from here, has directed all the courts in the state to ensure protection to lawyers and witnesses appearing in Naxal cases.
The directive came in response to a PIL filed by Mr Satish Chandra Verma, counsel of alleged hardcore Naxal K.S. Priya and six of her associates, who have been arrested in 2008 on charges of supplying wea-pons to Maoists and helping Naxals establish urban network in Chhattisgarh.
Mr Chandra had moved the HC seeking protection for him and the witnesses in the case, currently being heard in ADSJ court in Raipur. “When I along with my colleague Mr Ashok Sahu was coming out of ADJ court in Raipur after defending my clients in the case on September 2, 2009, some policemen deployed in the court, said counsels who are appearing in cases of hardcore will be severely dealt with,” Mr Verma said in PIL.