M A I N   N E W S

Plots for MPs, MLAs
A day after draw, HC stays allotment
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 19
Taking up an application against the allocation of land to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly, a division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia today granted stay in the matter.

While the court granted stay in the matter, desperation did, finally, get the better of the elected representatives who hurriedly organised a draw for allotment of plots in Sector 6 of Mansa Devi Complex yesterday.

Officers of the Haryana Urban Development Authority remained tightlipped about when and where the draw was conducted.

Sources said the draw was held after the legislators got wind of the fact that the Punjab and Haryana High Court was seized of the matter and an application for granting stay had been filed in this regard. Further, with the likelihood of the Haryana Assembly being dissolved on August 21, they wanted to get the allotment out of their way.

The draw was held in the presence of the Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on the last day of the three-day state mourning declared as a mark of respect to Cabinet Minister Kartar Devi, who had passed away recently.

Officials justified it on grounds that celebration of any kind had been barred during the state mourning and holding of a draw did not tantamount to celebration. It is learnt that not only was the draw held yesterday, but the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) issued allotment letters also.

Speaker Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadian said the details of the draw would be available with Administrator, HUDA, Balraj Singh, who confirmed that the draw had been held. “The draw was held yesterday and applicants were given allotment letters,” he added.

On being asked if the draw was held in the presence of MLAs and MPs, he flatly pleaded ignorance. “I don’t recognise Haryana MLAs. So, I don’t know if they were present during the draw,” he stated.

Estate Officer SS Saini said 79 of the 82 applicants were given allotment letters. “There were discrepancies in the applications of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and MPs Rao Indrajeet Singh and Avtar Singh Badhana. So, their applications were not considered for the draw,” he said.

However, a few MLAs contacted by The Tribune said they had no clue when the draw was held and had no information about allotment letters so far. The court today stayed the allotment of plots and fixed October 26 as the next date of hearing.

Following publication of a news report titled, “Hooda’s parting gift: Plots for MPs, MLAs”, carried in these columns, an application was filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court for staying the process of “arbitrary allotment of residential plots” yesterday by Gujun Mehta of Panchkula-based Herald Co-operative Group Housing Society.

He said the hasty decision came at a time when a petition filed by it was still pending and was to come up for hearing on September 15. The petitioner had asserted that it had become amply clear from the decision that the state was desperate to allot the plots at prime locations to its MLAs and MPs at any cost, come what may. The issue of allotment of plots as a pre-election bonanza was first reported in The Tribune on August 16.