Former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Neera Yadav was sentenced to four years ‘rigorous imprisonment’ by the special CBI court for large scale irregularities in allotment of land as the then chief of Noida Development Authority.
Yadav was accused of entering into criminal conspiracy with Ashok Chaturvedi, CMD, Flex Group of Companies, in allotment of two group housing plots at reduced rates and relaxed eligibility criteria. Chaturvedi has also been awarded four years of imprisonment by the special court.
Noida Entrepreneurs Association had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 1998 alleging large scale irregularities in allotment of land in Noida. CBI had filed a chargesheet in the designated court in February 2002. In response, Yadav had filed a revision petition in Allahabad High Court for framing of charges against all the accused persons. CBI contested the matters, finally leading the trial court to convict the accused.
The initial criteria to qualify for allotment of land was that the company should have a net worth of Rs 10 crore and an annual turnover of Rs 30 crore. Later, the terms were modified to Rs 3 crore and Rs 10 crore, respectively, to favour Flex. Subsequently, the government suffered a loss of Rs 1.12 crore, said the CBI in its report.
Yadav had taken voluntary retirement after BSP leader Mayawati came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007. Her husband, Mahendra Singh, a former police officer, was a minister in the BJP government in the state. Later he joined the Samajawadi Party. In 2009, Yadav and he joined the BJP.
