LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court has ordered the director, UP Vigilance Establishment, to register a case, investigate it and file a report into allegations that the Himalayan Cooperative Housing Society Limited defrauded Lucknow Development Authority of crores of rupees by conniving with LDA staff to take more land than the prescribed limit and transferring it to others.
The court directed the vigilance department to present the investigation report before it on Jan 20, while taking action against the employees of the society and LDA.
The order was passed by a single bench of Justice Rajiv Singh on Dec 3 on a contempt petition filed by Sunanda Agarwal.
The court found that in the matter in question, no prima facie contempt case was made out against officials of the authority. However, the court said that facts that have come to light during the hearing of this case are serious and thus it cannot keep its eyes closed. Saying this, the court has ordered a vigilance inquiry into the matter.
In fact, during the hearing, the court had found that Himalayan Cooperative Housing Society Limited had given plots to its members by taking compensation from the authority for about two times more land than the prescribed limit of twelve and a half acres, which is a completely illegal act. These lands are located in Gomtinagar Extension.
It also came before the court that in the inquiry conducted by the government and the authority, irregularities have been found against the said housing committee, in which the involvement of the employees of the authority has also come to light.
