Finding serious lapses in the process of allotment, Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday set aside the allotment of 222 industrial plots in Rohtak. The industrial plots were allotted by Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) in 2009 during the first tenure of previous CM Bhupender Singh Hooda.
Setting aside the allotment, a division bench headed by Justice Hemant Gupta said that the selection committee adopted pick and choose policy while selecting the allottees. The High Court has directed State for re-allotment of plots, adopting a transparent procedure.
The order of re-allotment of plots has come eight months after the High Court declared the allotment process to be arbitrary. The bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Hari Pal Verma in its earlier order had said that the exercise of allotment was carried out without framing any objective, transparent and rationale criteria.
The bench had observed, “The entire process was tailor-made to allot plots to the applicants as per whims and fancies of the members of the allotment committee.”
The bench had constituted a three member committee to examine the technical feasibility and financial viability of each of the applicant, who had applied for industrial plots in 2009.
The matter was brought to the High Court through a petition, alleging allotment to be biased and illegal. The petitioner had alleged favoritism in allotment saying that applicants experienced in running industries were overlooked while others whether in government jobs or traders were allotted plots in an arbitrary manner.
The allotment of these plots was finalised just 15 days prior to the beginning of State assembly poll process in 2009.