The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a sweeping probe into the alleged bungling of public funds by officials of Noida Authority accused of paying crores in excess land compensation, as the top court called for a structural overhaul of the land-owning body to make it more transparent and citizen-focused.
₹12 crore in 2021. (HT Archives)” title=”The directions came while the court was hearing a bail plea by two Noida Authority officials accused of authorising excess compensation payments exceeding ₹12 crore in 2021. (HT Archives)” />In a slew of directions, a bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi directed the Uttar Pradesh government to consider restructuring the Noida Authority into a metropolitan corporation with a citizen-centric approach, and asked the state chief secretary to place this recommendation before the Council of Ministers.
For the interim, the chief secretary was ordered to immediately appoint a chief vigilance officer (CVO) for Noida and a citizen advisory board (CAB) within one month to address residents’ grievances. It also directed that no construction projects be cleared without an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and subsequent approval from the Supreme Court’s green bench.
The directions came while the court was hearing a bail plea by two Noida Authority officials accused of authorising excess compensation payments exceeding ₹12 crore in 2021. In January this year, the court had set up a three-member committee led by then UP additional director general of police (ADGP) SB Shirodkar to find out if more such cases exist and to propose reforms.
The bench on Wednesday instructed the UP director general of police to form a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to investigate all cases involving illegal excess compensation payouts in Noida. “If the SIT, after preliminary enquiry, finds that a prima facie cognizable offence has been committed, it will register a case and proceed under law,” the bench held.
The SIT, to be headed by a police officer not below the rank of commissioner of police, will be chosen by Shirodkar, now the state DGP. It will include experts in forensic auditing and financial fraud investigations, and is to register cases promptly if preliminary enquiries reveal cognizable offences. The state must grant any sanction required under the Prevention of Corruption Act within two weeks of a request, the bench held.
The Shirodkar committee’s report found that between 2017 and 2021, enhanced compensation was paid in 1,198 cases, 1,167 of which were pursuant to court orders. In 20 cases, however, payments were made illegally, with certain Noida Authority officials identified as suspects. The committee noted that proving collusion would require scrutiny of bank accounts and property acquisitions by the officials and their family members during the relevant period.
On the reconstitution of Noida Authority as metropolitan corporation or council and other recommendations related to day-to-day functioning of the authority, the bench directed the Shirodkar committee report to be forwarded to the chief secretary for placing it before the Council of Ministers.
The court reproduced some of the findings of the committee in its order flagging that power was concentrated in the hands of a few individuals under the CEO-led structure, with no swift grievance redressal mechanism, no CVO, and little transparency in project status or decision-making. Land allotment policies were seen as favouring builders and developers, with EIAs often not prioritised before construction.
The bench said, “In order to infuse transparency and citizen-centric approach in day-to-day functioning of Noida, we are conscious of the fact that recommendations entail various policy decisions.”
It ordered the chief secretary to appoint a CVO from the IPS cadre or on deputation from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) office, and to establish the CAB within a month.
Besides Shirodkar, the court-appointed committee included Inspector General Modak Rajesh D Rao and Senior Superintendent of Police Hemant Kutiyal. Their mandate was to identify illegal excess payouts, assess whether Noida’s functioning lacked transparency, fairness and objectivity, and determine possible collusion between officials and landowners.
The present case involved legal officer Dinesh Kumar Singh and assistant legal officer Virender Singh Nagar employed with Noida Authority who wrongfully sanctioned a compensation of ₹7.28 crore in a land acquisition case, 22 years after it was paid to the landowner. The court sought a deeper probe as it was not convinced by a fact-finding committee of the state government which fastened the guilt on the two officials.
The 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.