High court orders removal of Noida CEO, Chairman

The Allahabad high court has overturned the appointment of two controversial IAS officers as the chief executive officer and the chairman of the Noida authority. CEO Sanjeev Saran and chairman Rakesh Bahadur, who will have to relinquish their positions immediately, had been appointed to their posts after the Samajwadi Party came to power in Uttar Pradesh. Bahadur was also the chairman of the Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities.

The Akhilesh Yadav government had drawn flak for appointing the duo, who were accused of allotting 14 plots in Noida to hoteliers at throwaway prices since 2001, causing an estimated loss of over Rs. 4,700 crore to the state.

In June, Allahabad-based NGO Madhav Samaj Samiti had gone to court, challenging the appointments.

“Both were chargesheeted in Noida’s sector 20 police station for the hotel land deal, and an economic offence wing (EOW) inquiry is pending against them, they being at influential postings can hamper the inquiry and also damage the evidences (sic),” the Samiti said in its petition.

Last month, Renu Singh, a lawyer, also approached the court, demanding a CBI enquiry into the deals and their removal.

“The court has asked the state government to remove the duo immediately. It has also ordered a CBI probe into the land deals,” Singh said.

Singh on Thursday claimed that she was offered money to withdraw her petition.

“I had stopped going out and attending calls to avoid these dealers. They had offered me a huge sum to withdraw the petition,” she said after the high court judgment.

“I do not know if they were well-wishers of the Noida authority CEO or chairman. But they tried very hard to convince me to the withdraw the petition,” Singh added.

She is planning to move the Supreme Court, as she wants a probe into all land deals since 1991.

With PTI inputs

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