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BJP demands CBI probe into auction of Tehkhand plot

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Subhash Arya, and MCD Standing Committee member Vijender Gupta on Tuesday charged that the Delhi Development Authority had illegally auctioned a 14.3- hectare plot at Tehkhand in South Delhi and demanded a CBI probe on the ground that the land actually belonged to the Slum and JJ Department of the MCD and was meant for relocation of squatters of Bhoomiheen Camp. They also asserted that full payment of Rs 1.92 crores had been made for the plot to the DDA by the MCD and also displayed copies of the possession documents to buttress their charge.

DDA has clarified that the land had been restored to it upon orders of the Ministry of Urban Development and in full knowledge of the Lieutenant- Governor of Delhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in MCD raised the issue and claimed that the auction of the plot actually amounted to a Rs. 800-crore scam and therefore a CBI probe was essential to punish the officials responsible for it. They claimed that on June 2, 1995, a meeting was held at Raj Niwas in which the then Lieutenant-Governor P. K. Dave and the then Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana were also present and it was decided that DDA should immediately hand over the Tehkhand land measuring 32 acres to the Slum and JJ Department. In lieu of that DDA was to charge the normal acquisition cost of Rs. 6 lakhs per acre.

Stating that later MCD had paid Rs. 1.92 crores to the DDA and taken physical possession of the land on September 4, 1997, the BJP leaders said the auction of the land was illegal.

DDA said the 30.14-hectare plot of land at Tehkhand, where a project for in situ rehabilitation of slum dwellers through public private partnership has been taken up, was transferred to the Slum and JJ Wing for rehabilitation of slum dwellers on August 16, 1997 and a demand of Rs. 9.31 crores was raised against the same in lieu of which the Slum and JJ Wing made a payment of Rs.1.92 crores only.

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