Barely a day after the state government decided to cancel all allotments of land, houses and flats under the discretionary quota (DQ) since January 1, 1995, the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today apprehended that the decision would not stand the scrutiny of the court of law.

"The state government has acted in haste and intended to hoodwink the people of the state," said Bijoy Mohapatra, senior BJP leader at a press conference here. The government has neither studied the decision of the Supreme Court in the Satish Sharma case nor the judgment of the Odisha High Court in a similar case. The state government has taken yet another illegal decision, he added. Stating that the entire report of Taradutt committee was not discussed in the cabinet, he said, even the cabinet ministers were unaware of the content of the report they have approved. It is something strange. The cabinet memorandum was highly confusing, he pointed out.

"I feel the government is scared of the forthcoming tour of BJP national president Amit Shah to the state on January 6 and 7 and taken half-hearted decision to avoid criticism on the issue," Mohapatra said. He stressed that the state government has taken no decision on the land scam which is higher in magnitude compared to the land allotted through the discretionary quota. Such a land scam of this dimension had never taken place in Odisha before, he added. Dragging chief minister Naveen Patnaik into the controversy, Mohapatra said that Patnaik had caused 'intolerable harm' to the people of the state as well as to the government by not clearing the air through a statement on the issue.

It may be noted that the Cabinet decision was based on the recommendations of a task force on land allotments in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack headed by Taradatt, additional chief secretary, revenue & disaster management.

Mentioning that the next course of action should be lodging of FIR on the basis of findings, he said, instead the state government has ordered that enquiry will be done by the Vigilance wing of the state police again.

A total of 1791 allotments including 803 by BDA (Bhubaneswar Development Authority), 921 by CDA (Cuttack Development Authority and 67 by OSHB would stand cancelled if the Cabinet decision is implemented. The Vigilance will probe cases of multiple allotments and criminal proceedings will be initiated if beneficiaries have got the plots or houses by submitting fake affidavits.

"We have experiences of futile enquires by the Vigilance and Crime Branch," Mohapatra mocked.

The land scam should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation and anyone found guilty should be booked, he suggested.

Responding to BJP leader's allegations, Pratap Keshari Deb, spokesperson, BJD, said, "Who is he to decide whether the decision would stand the scrutiny of the court or not. It is the court which would take a call".