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The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed a special investigation team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh police probing excess payouts by Noida Authority on land compensation to complete its probe within two months.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant expressed its dissatisfaction over the extension of time sought by the SIT constituted in August, remarking, “You also seem reluctant to conduct the probe,” and asking it to look into the assets of the officers in Noida Authority posted during the relevant time.
“We expect the SIT to examine all the assets of the officers including law officers of Noida Authority. We are not saying anything as we are sure they will examine,” said the bench, also comprising justices Ujjay Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta appearing for the Authority informed the court that most of the directions contained in the August 13 order were complied with. However, with regard to the allegation of nexus which the SIT is probing, Mehta said, “Every amount of compensation is part of the order issued by the court. Nothing has been paid on our own account.”
The bench said it was aware of this fact while passing orders. “We are aware of it. While ordering probe, we wished to know if officers have colluded and given payments to persons other than the ones entitled to (it) under the court orders. We wanted to know if it was done bona fide or in collusion with other persons.”
Prior to forming the SIT, the court had in January appointed a committee headed by then UP Additional Director General of Police SB Shiradkar who reported that enhanced compensation was paid by the Noida Authority in 1,198 cases while the court mandated payments only in 1,167. The committee unearthed 20 cases where illegal excess payments were made and certain officials of the authority were identified as key suspects.
The committee was of the view that proving collusion would entail detailed scrutiny of bank accounts of the officers, and of the assets acquired by them and their family members during the relevant period.
The court order of August allowed the UP director general of police (DGP) to form a three-member SIT to probe alleged collusion. It further entrusted the SIT to register a case and proceed under law after the preliminary probe prima facie discloses a cognizable offence.
The court had even allowed the SIT to seek sanction to probe against the erring officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act and paved the way for an effective probe by directing the state to dispose of such requests within two weeks of its receipt. In addition, the SIT was allowed to involve experts in forensic audit of accounts, and officials adept in probing financial frauds and disproportionate assets.
Besides probing the irregularities, the court had also directed restructuring the Noida Authority into a Metropolitan Corporation. It ordered the appointment of a chief vigilance officer for the Authority and a Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) for resolving grievances of Noida residents within a month. All construction projects in Noida were further directed to be cleared only after obtaining Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance and approval by the green bench of the top court.
The August order came in a case where the court was considering the bail of two persons working with Noida Authority facing a probe for paying excess amounts of compensation worth over ₹12 crore in 2021.
The case brought before the court involved legal officer Dinesh Kumar Singh and assistant legal officer Virender Singh Nagar who wrongfully sanctioned a compensation of ₹7.28 crore in a land acquisition case. A fact-finding report found out that the acquisition was carried out in 1982 and the owner was paid compensation for his 10-15 bigha land (one bigha is about 25.29 acres in UP) at the rate of ₹10.12 per square yard.
Not satisfied with this amount, the owner approached the district court in Ghaziabad for enhanced compensation. In 1993, the court directed the Noida Authority to pay the owner at the rate of ₹16.61 per square yard. This was done and the claim stood settled. Much later, in 2015, Ramwati, the legal heir of the owner, filed an appeal before the Allahabad high court to reopen the compensation but the same was dismissed.
The same year, the Noida authority agreed to settle all pending claims with landowners by providing compensation at ₹297 per square yard. According to the FIR lodged against the two officials, the duo filed an appeal against the dismissal of Ramwati’s compensation claim to show the matter as pending and got ₹7.28 crore released towards settlement of her bogus claim.
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