Odisha: Scandal

Finally, the Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik took the right decision at the right time, say political pundits. Just before the commencement of the winter session of the state legislative assembly, Patnaik dropped a bomb, ordering all housing agencies to do away with discretionary quota in allotment of land plots, houses or flats.

For a month now the state has been rocked by the irregularities exposed in the allotment of houses under the ministers' discretionary quota. The most controversial among them has been the allotment of two houses in favour of a law minister in Naveen Patnaik's cabinet.

According to reports, Bikram Keshari Arukh the law minister of the state had deposited a fake affidavit to acquire a house from the urban development ministry in 2009. It's minister Badri Narayan Patra sanctioned the allotment. Two years earlier, Arukh had been allotted another house – in the name of his wife. At the time KV Singhdeo was the urban development minister. The opposition demanded Arukh's resignation, prompting him to revert the allotted house to the ministry.

Taking note of the situation Patnaik's announced that henceforth no land plots or flats would be allotted out of any discretionary quota. He issued a directive ordering all the authorities having power to allot lands and houses, including Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to stop allotment of land plots, houses and flats under the discretionary quota with immediate effect.

The chief minister's decision has come after allegations that since 2001 former urban development ministers KV Singhdeo and Samir Dey had misused their discretionary powers to favour ministers, judges, IAS and IPS officers by allotting them prime property in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. Responding to the allegation Singdeo has said that “there was no ill intention in allotting land to said people and I am ready for any inquiry.” Samir Dey also claims that “all the allotments had been done in accordance to law.”

The current urban development minister Badri Narayan Patra who has been caught in the storm over allotment of a house to Arukh says, “Arukh had applied for a house claiming that he did not have any land plot or a house in the Bhubaneshwar district covered by the master plan. Therefore, I allotted a house in his favour according to the law under discretionary quota.”

Patra's statement put the spotlight on Arukh, who in turn decided to revert the recent allotment back to concerned authority.

A senior political analyst Basant Das observes that it appears that the chief minister is keen to maintain a clean image and silence the opposition. He can't dismiss his minister but he can be seen to be taking the right step, “He has taken this decision under political compulsions,” says Das adding that Patnaik “Abolition of discretionary quota was perhaps the best alternative to maintain his clean image.”