CHENNAI: It was not just top police officers who allegedly benefited from the Tamil Nadu Housing Board housing allotments, but also IAS officers who had availed of the government discretionary quota for the second or third time under the ‘Own Your House’ Nerkundram Housing Scheme, which came into being during the DMK regime.Among those include Higher Education Secretary R Kannan, who owns two plots in Phase XV of Hosur, Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise Malik Feroze Khan, who owns a High Income Group (HIG) house in Sholingnalur and a Middle Income Group (MIG) house in Nolambur, Joint Secretary of Public Department Mythili K Rajendran, who owns a MIG house in Vellakinaru, and Additional Secretary, Union Environment and Forests Ministry M F Farooqui, who sold out the plot in Anna Nagar 10 years ago as it was in a low-lying area.Others include Union Labour Secretary Mrutyunjay Sarangi, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board chairman Rajeev Ranjan, chairman and managing director of Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation K Allaudin, member secretary of State Planning Commission K Dhanavel, Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner C Chandramouli, Agriculture Commissioner Thangakaliya Perumal and Chairman, Urban Finance and Infrastructure K Ganesan.The project, which got the approval of the TNHB under the GO 56 issued on February 28, 2011, just a day prior to the Assembly elections, is mired in controversy after it was found out that of the nearly 450 allottees of All India Services, many had availed houses under the discretionary quota earlier.Interestingly, the scheme, which also highlights GO 79, fails to take the gist of the order which clearly states that any applicant who owns a house or plot is not eligible under the government discretionary quota. This is backed by an RTI reply to a query by an activist V Gopalakrishnan that the GO has not been amended. “There is no government order, guideline, proceedings or rule or orders stating that the applicant applying for house or plot or flat for any scheme in TNHB can have plot or house or flat in his or her name or in the family name in the city,” the letter from TNHB clarifies.Now, the Board has set a deadline of 15 days to the allottees of Nerkundram Housing Scheme to provide details about the government discretionary quota allotments and warned that failure to do so will result in cancellation of allotment to the officers.Meanwhile, the other issue that plagues the Rs 600-crore Nerkundram housing scheme is the difference between the actual realisation and total expenditure.While the total expenditure comes to the tune of Rs 168 crore, the realisation from the 1,016 allottees at the current approved rate comes to Rs 485.75 crore. TNHB sources said the plan was to increase the cost of flats to existing allottees by 10 per cent, besides additional mobilisation of funds towards the shortfall by sale of the rest of the flats at a higher rate.
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