YEIDA LAND SCAM

CBI LAUNCHES PROBE INTO YEIDA LAND SCAM

Central Bureau Investigation(CBI) agency has finally taken over the probe into the Rs.
126 crore land scam linked to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority
(YEIDA). CBI also filed a fresh FIR against 21 former officials including former CEO P
C Gupta. CBI took this step after two years of surfacing of scam . The UP government
had made the recommendation on this but the centre did not forward the case to CBI. The
investigation will look into alleged irregularities in the purchase of over 57 hectares of
land in seven villages of Mathura at a cost of rs. 85.49 crore, causing a loss of rs. 126
crore to the exchequer. The case will be handled by CBI’s Ghaziabad anti-corruption
branch.

THE SCAM
The Taj Expressway Industrial Development Authority, which later became the Yamuna
Expressway Industrial Development Authority deals with land acquisition and
development along the expressway. The matter is related to purchase of land in Mathura
for Yamuna expressway project in 2018 .YEIDA authority conducted a departmental
inquiry in which it was disclosed that CEO gupta with other officials purchased approx
57 hectares of land in seven villages of Mathura at the cost of 85.49 crore with the help of
19 companies. later,the land was sold at a higher cost to the authority,causing a loss of
126 crore to yeida.the project was sanctioned during the term of former Uttar pradesh
chief minister Mayawati. The project was inaugurated by former chief minister Akhilesh
Yadav.

LEGAL PROVISIONS APPLIED IN SUCH CASES

Prevention of Corruption Act,1988 (PCA) , is primary anti-corruption statute in india.it
deals with the cases of undue advantage by public servants. It includes and controls any
government,local authority,company, or other body aided or controlled by government.
Central VIgilance Commission is a government watchdog that inquires into offences
alleged under PCA .CVC was constituted by the central government through Central
Vigilance Commission Act,2003.
The Right to information Act,2005 (“RTI ACT”)allows indian citizens to obtain
information held by any public authority.there are some exceptions to RTI. some
confidential information can also be denied when it comes to national interest, legislative
privilege and Right to Privacy.
 The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act,2013is a recent legislation which provides for the
establishment of corruption ombudsman,which act independently from the executive
branch of the government.This ombudsman has been empowered to investigate
allegations of corruption against public functionaries.

LANDMARK CASES OF SUCH SCAMS

Many scams have taken place in India since independence.some of them were of so large
scale but still could not be solved and the matter is still pending in the court.

.KARNATAKA WAKF BOARD LAND SCAM

The Karnataka Wakf Board is a Muslim charitable trust that manages property that has
been donated for the use of the poor. In 2012, Karnataka state minorities commission
alleged Wakf board of misusing the property and illegal allocation of this property to
politicians..In report submitted by the commission,Wakf board was accused of selling
approx 50 % of this property to politicians and land mafias. The case is still in inquiry
under the income tax department.

INDIAN COAL ALLOCATION SCAM

This is one of the biggest cases of corruption reported under Manmohan singh led UPA 2
government. This case shook the whole nation and was so grave that then prime minister
Mr. Manmohan singh offered to resign from the post if found guilty. The scam came to
light after the Controller and Auditor General of India (CAG) accused the government of
India for allocating 194 coal blocks to public and private enterprises for captive use in a
flawed manner between 2003 and 2009.. It also found that many politicians influenced
allotment to certain private owners. Some private owners got more coal blocks than
needed for their captive operations and several companies sold coal meant for internal
use in the open market. The loss was of approx 1.86 crore.former Jharkhand chief
minister Madhu Koda was one of the accused who were sentenced by the court.

ADARSH HOUSING SOCIETY SCAM

A 31-storey apartment complex, called the Adarsh Housing Society, was built in Colaba
in South Mumbai for 1999 Kargil war heroes and war widows. In 2010, it was revealed
that many rules were violated in allocation of flats.many politicians allocated flats to their
family members and relatives In the building. It was originally meant to be a six-storey
building. several apartments, estimated to cost anywhere up to Rs 8 crore in 2010, were
allegedly bought at a tenth of the price by defence personnel and relatives of bureaucrats
and politicians. The alleged scam has been probed by multiple agencies, including the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a team set up
by the Maharashtra government and the Army .The CBI took over the investigation and
charged 14 people , including the then Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES SCAM

The 2010 Commonwealth Games was under a cloud of allegations of irregularities. The
Games cost the government around 2300 crores. The CAG indicted the government
stating that irregularities while hosting the games resulted in a loss of Rs. 2342 crores,
which means a loss of Rs.196 crore per day due to willful negligence and corruption apart
from other irregularities.. It was ruled that if the office of the Prime Minister had heeded
the council of senior ministers in the Union Cabinet, such as the then Minister for Sports,
Sunil Dutt, followed by Mani Shankar Aiyar, the situation and the loss could have been
avoided.

SATYAM SCAM
Satyam scam involved Rs. 14000 crore. The former chairman of this company,
Ramalinga Raju was the main culprit, where nobody was aware of his activities like
maintaining for grey books of accounts for so many years and also showed the wrong
revenues and profit figures.
Apart from these cases there have been several other scam cases like The Fodder
scam,INX Media case, 2G Spectrum scam etc. which questioned the prominence and
usefulness of various laws in the nation which are made for curbing scams and
corruption.

PUBLIC REACTION AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY

This type of scams put question mark on the existence and applicability of corruption
laws in the country. Involvement of political figures in these scams weekens public trust
in political institutions, Reduce political participation and weaken the legitimacy of
democratic values of the nation. These scams undermine the political and administration
system of society and destroy civil society by vitiliating the relationship of citizens and
the state. Corruption behind these scam cases is a major problem of country. India is
lagging behind in all social indices such as inventions, health,medicine, research, sports,
education, economy, defence, infrastructure, technology etc. This is primarily due to the
effects of corruption. The gap between the rich and poor is widening, the rich are
increasing their wealth, by appropriation of the wealth and rights of the downtrodden.
The government initiates numerous packages, reservations, policies and compensations
for the poor, minorities and backward classes from time to time, but unfortunately, these
sections of society do not reap the benefits of these programmes, as the rich avail the
benefits meant for the poor.

CONCLUSION
There have been several legislation for curbing scams in the country. While Indian anti
corruption laws are fairly stringent ,corruption is not uncommon in india. As per
corruption perception index of 2018 by Transparency International, India ranked 78th out
of 180 countries which shows the gravity of corruption problem in india. There are
several ways for fighting with corruption and curbing scams like making it easier to
report corruption, by creating awareness and removing arbitrariness, enforcement of
corruption laws and adequate punishment, keeping a check on funding of political parties
and elections.