Uttarakhand government has set up a judicial commission on the High Court orders to investigate the role of some officials in the Rishikesh-based housing project. A one-member commission under former judge of Uttarakhand High Court B C Kandpal has been formed to investigate the role of government officials in the alleged scam.
Justice (retd) Kandpal is also heading the probe panel instituted by the state government to investigate 56 alleged scams unearthed during the previous Congress government, a government spokesman said.
The issue had rocked the state last year after opposition parties led by Congress sought a CBI probe alleging that the government allowed the project being developed by Sturdia Developers at Rishikesh on an industrial land belonging to Citurgia Bio-chemicals Pvt Ltd on banks of the river Ganga violating environmental norms. The opposition also alleged that BJP government allowed the sale the land to Sturdia Developers, a Mumbai-based company, at throw-away price.
The Uttarakhand High Court cancelled the Sturdia housing project last year and ordered the government to take the land back from the real estate company. The court had also ordered an inquiry into the role of some government officials who had misled the government on various issues related with the housing project.
The government had in December informed the court that it was kept about various aspects of the housing project and it has only followed the advice of the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on the matter.
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has also said the housing project was allowed as per the recommendations of BIFR which had stated that a part of the sick Citurgia Biochemicals Limited can be sold for its revival.
