No rules flouted in allotting land: Karunanidhi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday described as "mischievous" reports that his government had misused its discretionary powers in allotting prime land to scores of people, including members of the legislative assembly, politicians and top bureaucrats.

In a statement, he said the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, which had a solid land bank in the state, sold 85 per cent of land through lots to the public and the rest 15 per cent was being used by the state government for discretionary quota.

The land pricing for the discretionary quota was fixed on the basis of ruling rate, market rate or the guideline value, whichever was higher, he said.

In some cases, the allotees had returned the land on the plea that the price quoted was very high, he said.

Karunanidhi described reports that the land was sold at a throwaway price as "untrue and mischievous." He said the housing board did not suffer any loss due to sale of land under discretionary quota and there was no violation of rules in the discretionary allotment.

"If there is any violation of rules in the allotment, it will be cancelled," he said.

Information obtained through a Right To Information query has revealed that prime land was alloted to a judge of the Madras high court, a retired judge, kin of a state minister, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress MLAs, and a top intelligence official, among others, allegedly in violation of norms.