Court orders booking 19 Andhra officials on land deal

HYDERABAD - A special court here Tuesday ordered registration of criminal cases against 19 officials, including senior Indian Administrative Service officer B.P. Acharya, and a suspended Congress leader over a land deal in Hyderabad.

The court directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register the cases in connection with transfer of prime land to a private developer, Emaar Properties.

Acharya, a former managing director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), is currently serving as principal secretary, industries department.

Then APIIC chairman Ambati Rambabu is also among the people who would be booked by the ACB.

Rambabu, a loyalist of Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and former general secretary of state unit of the Congress, was last month suspended from the party for his outbursts against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah.

Acting on a petition by advocate Sri Ranga Rao, the court directed ACB to book cases under penal provisions for criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal breach of trust by a public servant and criminal conspiracy and three other sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The petitioner sought action against the officials for allegedly corrupt dealings in transfer of prime APIIC lands in and around Hyderabad to Emaar and 16 other companies.

The petitioner alleged that the officials resorted to several irregularities during the tenure of Rambabu as APIIC chairman, causing huge losses to public exchequer.

The irregularities in the deal with Emaar Properties came to light recently. The APIIC allotted 285 acres of prime land to Emaar Properties at Gachibowli for developing an integrated township and golf course. As per the agreement, the APIIC was allotted 26 percent share in the revenues in the joint venture.

Emaar Properties with alleged collusion of some officials contracted the entire project to its subsidiary Emaar MGF.

Changes were made in the original agreement to allot 95 percent revenues to Emaar MGF while in the remaining five percent, the APIIC was given a share of 26 percent and Emaar Properties 74 percent.

The state government has already ordered probe into the scam. The APIIC proposed to issue fresh notice to Emaar Properties to recover its share of revenue from the project.