Tamil Nadu cancels allotment of land to 5 IT firms

The Tamil Nadu government has cancelled allotment of land by the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) government to five software companies -- Cognizant Technologies, Megasoft, Benchmark Softtech, Proton Web and Advance Software -- on the ground of alleged irregularities.

An official press release on Wednesday said that the previous AIADMK government, at the fag end of its tenure in February 25, 2006, decided to allot 123 acres of land to these companies at a throwaway price.

A Government Order was issued for this on March 1. But the GO was withheld that day itself as the Election Commission imposed the model code of conduct for the Assembly polls.

Since a public interest litigation demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into these allotments is pending in the court, and the decision was taken without observing the rules, the Cabinet, at its July 20 meeting decided to cancel the allotment, the release said.

The AIADMK government decided to sell the land, belonging to Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, at the rate of Rs 48 lakh (Rs 4.8 million) per acre, which was very less compared to the market rate, the release said.

Cognizant was given 20 acres of land, Megasoft 25, Proton Web 3, Benchmark 25 and Advanced Software 50 acres of land by the AIADMK government.