Noida land allotment scam: Supreme Court upholds conviction of former UP chief secretary Neera Yadav, awards two-year jail term

Neera Yadav went on to become UP’s first woman chief secretary during the Samajwadi Party’s government in 2005.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Neera Yadav in Noida land allotment scam case and awarded two-year jail imprisonment.

Former IAS officer Rajiv Kumar gets two-year jail term as he has also been convicted in the scam.

A CBI court in Ghaziabad had convicted Yadav and Kumar in 2012 in the scam that took place between 1994 and 1995 and sentenced them to three years’ imprisonment.

Yadav was the CEO of Noida Authority at the time of scam and Kumar was her deputy.

The 1971 batch IAS officer, Yadav, who went on to become UP’s first woman chief secretary during the Samajwadi Party’s government in 2005, took voluntary retirement in 2008.

The CBI probe was ordered by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by one Noida Entrepreneurs Association in 1997.

Yadav was the Chief Executive Officer of Noida in 1995 when she violated norms in allotting a prime plot to an industrialist.

It was alleged that Yadav hatched a criminal conspiracy with 1983-batch IAS officer Rajiv Kumar, the then Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Noida to change the land use of a plot which was earmarked for a guest house and also increased its area in violation of norms, CBI sources said.

In a separate case, it was alleged that Yadav during her tenure as Noida chairman misused her official position as a public servant and got herself allotted a plot in violation of norms.

"The allotment was done despite the fact that the application submitted by her was incomplete in many respects and was submitted after the closing date of the scheme," CBI sources said.

It was also alleged that she got two plots allotted in the names of her two daughters knowing fully well that as per rules of the Noida only one plot of land could be allotted to one family.