Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court today issued notices to the Centre, Uttar Pradesh government, Noida authority and two IAS officers who have been appointed to top posts in Noida despite a criminal investigation pending against them in connection with a land scam.
The order was passed by a two-judge vacation bench comprising Justice Arun Tandon and Justice R S Maurya on a Public Interest Litigation challenging the appointment of Rakesh Bahadur and Sanjeev Saran as Noida`s Chairman and CEO respectively.
The court, while issuing notices to the respondents, asked them to file their counter-affidavits and fixed July 31 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
In the PIL, filed by a social organization "Madhav Samaj Nirman Samiti", it has been alleged that during 2005-07, when Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was the state`s Chief Minister, Bahadur and Saran were respectively Chairman and CEO of Noida and had facilitated sale of prime land at throwaway prices to hoteliers.
It was further alleged in the PIL that the officers` action had caused a huge loss to the state exchequer and they were also accused of misappropriating large amounts of money.
A case was registered against them in 2009 when Mayawati-led BSP was in power in UP and they had remained under suspension for about three years.
However, after Samajwadi Party returned to power following the assembly polls held this year, the Akhilesh Yadav government appointed the two officers to the very posts they were holding earlier despite the fact that criminal investigation was pending against them and a chargesheet has been filed in course of the departmental inquiry which they were facing.
This, the PIL, alleged, was done to help the officers "cover up their misdeeds and tamper with the original records".
PTI
