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SC issues notice to Jyoti Basu in allotment case

The Supreme Court today issued notices to West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, the state government and five others on two petitions seeking exemplary damages against the respondents for the alleged misuse of the discretionary quota by the chief minister in the allotments of 276 residential blocks in the Salt Lake City area of Calcutta.

The notices were issued by a division bench comprising Justices S P Bharucha and M Srinivasan after hearing brief argument on behalf of the petitioners -- Dipak Kumar Ghosh, a retired IAS officer, and a Trinamul Congress municipal councillor Tarak Singh.

The petitioners had sought an investigation by an independent agency into the alleged bungling in the allotments so that the respondents could be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.

While Ghosh had approached the apex court by filing a public interest petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, Tarak Singh had appealed against a Calcutta high court judgment.

By the impugned judgment though the high court held that no norms and guidelines were followed while making the allotment, it dismissed the petition for not making the allotees respondents in the petition.

The beneficiaries of the allotment, according to both the petitions, were relatives, friends and members of the personal staff of the chief minister, present and former ministers in the West Bengal government, bureaucrats and judges.

UNI

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