TN cancels land allotment to 5 firms

Firms include Cognizant, Megasoft, Benchmark

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to cancel the order issued by the previous AIADMK government to allotting 123 acres of land to five companies on the ground of alleged irregularities.

According to an official release, the previous AIADMK regime passed a government order on March 1, 2006, to allot 20 acres to Cognizant Technologies, 25 acres to Megasoft, 25 acres to Benchmark, 3 acres to Proton Web and 50 acres to Advanced Software in Shollinganallur at a cost of Rs 48 lakh per acre.

However, the order was withheld on the same day as the Election Commission's code of conduct for the Assembly polls had come into effect by that time.

The release said that the AIADMK government had allotted the lands at a throwaway price. While the land cost was estimated between Rs 3 crore and Rs 9 crore per acre, the government decided to allot the land at Rs 48 lakh per acre.

A public interest litigation petition demanding a CBI probe into the land allotment and petitions by ex-servicemen and pensioners association are pending in the court.

Since the allotments were made by violating rules, the cabinet, at its meeting on July 20, decided to cancel the allotment, the release said.