The Hindu : National : Basu clarifies on land allotment

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Saturday, Jan 28, 2006

National

National

Basu clarifies on land allotment

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu has denied allotment of land in the Salt Lake area here under any quota to his son Chandan.

``Chandan has not got the plot [he holds] from any such quota," Mr. Basu said on Friday. "He [Chandan] inherited it through a will made by a relative on his maternal side," he said.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Mr. Basu, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and six others on a petition seeking cancellation of land allotments made in the area.

Petitioner Jaideep Mukherjee, seeking a probe into the modalities adopted in land allotment, had submitted a list of several beneficiaries. He had also submitted that a discretionary quota for land allotment had been created illegally and arbitrarily during the tenure of Mr. Basu as Chief Minister.

Mr. Basu said he would reply to the Supreme Court notice once he received it.

The notice caused a flutter in political circles here. The Opposition is making it an issue of it when the State is preparing for Assembly elections. Mr. Bhattacharjee had declined to comment on the issue.

Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta and Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharjee are among others served with the notice.

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