Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sought a report into an alleged land scam in Agra after claims emerged that land valued at around ₹500 crore was allotted by the Uttar Pradesh Housing and Development Board to a private real estate firm for about ₹160 crore. The allegations centred on the auction and allotment of government land in Sikandra residential area.
Activist Kunwar Shailraj Singh, who raised the issue and submitted documents to the Chief Minister’s Office, alleged that officials of the Uttar Pradesh Housing and Development Board extended undue favour to Bharat Nagar Housing, a real estate firm.
The matter related to 1,44,869 square metres of land in sectors 12D and 15 of the Sikandra residential area. A public notice for auctioning the land was issued in June 2016.
Allegations Raised Over Land Auction Process
According to the allegations, officials subsequently entered into an agreement with the real estate firm without conducting an auction and fixed the land price at ₹160 crore, which was around six times the actual base price for auction bidding.
The report alleged that officials did not charge the firm for 7,390 square metres of government land included in the total auctioned area. According to the housing board’s valuation cited in the report, this portion of land was worth ₹8.47 crore.
The minimum base price for the entire land auction was stated to be ₹166.01 crore.
Government records cited in the report showed that the housing board allotted 1,37,563 square metres of land to the real estate firm at its circle rate of ₹11,466.56 per square metre, compared with the district magistrate’s circle rate of ₹35,000 per square metre.
The total value of the land at the district magistrate’s circle rate was stated to be ₹507 crore, including stamp duty.
Firm Allegedly Began Selling Plots After ₹30 Crore Token Payment
The real estate firm also purchased another 36 square metres of land to create a passage for the residential complex at ₹35,000 per square metre in Sector 15.
Singh alleged that government records showed Shobhik Goyal, a partner of Bharat Nagar Housing, had paid only ₹30 crore as a token amount to the housing board before the firm began selling and registering land to other plot buyers.
Bharat Nagar Housing was developing the Anthela and Anthem housing projects in sectors 12D and 15, respectively.
The activist further alleged that the sub-registrar’s office had ignored what he described as an illegality and allowed the firm to continue with the projects. He claimed that stamp charges should have been collected from the firm at the district magistrate’s circle rate before it was allowed to develop the properties.
Housing Board Official Says Probe Would Be Initiated
When contacted, Laxman Prasad, then deputy housing commissioner of the Agra zone, declined to comment.
Another housing board official, speaking anonymously, said the matter had come to the department’s knowledge and that a probe would be initiated to determine the extent of alleged corruption in the land auctioning process.
Niranjan Prasad, additional inspector general of the registrar office, said he could comment on the matter only after examining the documents.
Attempts were also made to contact Shobhik Goyal for comment, but he could not be reached, according to the report.
