Supreme Court Today (Aug 13) formed a new SIT to investigate alleged NOIDA land payout scam involving inflated compensation to ineligible owners. Court also stops all new NOIDA projects until environmental clearance is given.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India, on Wednesday, took strong action over serious allegations of corruption in NOIDA’s land acquisition process.
The Court ordered a fresh and detailed preliminary inquiry into claims that some officials of the NOIDA Authority conspired with certain landowners to increase compensation amounts in an illegal manner.
According to reports placed before the Court, the compensation for land acquisition was allegedly inflated and given even to those who were not legally eligible.
A Bench consisting of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi has now created a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to dig deeper into the alleged scam. This new SIT will have three senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers who will investigate all irregularities.
Earlier, a previous SIT had already found suspicious transactions in at least twenty land compensation cases, and even named certain NOIDA officials who might have played a role.
The Supreme Court has directed that the new SIT probe will be wider in scope.
It will track all money trails, study the bank accounts of the officials, their family members, and the landowners, and also review the properties and assets bought during the period in question.
The aim is to find out if there was any clear collusion for personal gains.
Importantly, the Court has also passed another significant order to protect the environment in NOIDA. It has ruled that no new NOIDA projects should begin without proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance and the approval of the Supreme Court’s special green bench, which handles cases related to environmental protection.
This step ensures that future development will not harm the ecological balance of the area.
Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Advocate General, Garima Prashad, assured the Supreme Court that the state government will follow these orders strictly. The case is likely to continue with further hearings after the SIT submits its fresh findings.
CASE TITLE:
VIRENDRA SINGH NAGAR vs STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ANR.
SLP(Crl) No. 1251/2023
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