New Delhi, August 27: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will allot over 5,000 flats after it gets a report confirming that the software it used for the draw of lots cannot be rigged, an official said Thursday.
“We are expecting the report of C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) by Sept 21. Once we get the report, the process of allotment of flats would start,” DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar told IANS.
Earlier this month, Delhi Police, which are is probing a multi-million-rupee housing scam, gave DDA a clean chit.
“We have received a report from the forensic lab in Hyderabad that the software used by DDA during the allotment of over 5,000 flats was not rigged. The DDA’s conduct of allotment was fair and no discrepancy was found in it. We have not found any wrongdoing by the DDA,” a senior police official said.
However, a senior DDA official told IANS that even though the Hyderabad laboratory had given a clean chit to the software, the agency sent it to C-DAC to be absolutely sure about it.
Over 500,000 people applied for 5,238 flats under the DDA’s housing scheme 2008. But the housing scheme got mired in controversies amid allegations of fake applications. The scam came to light earlier this year after a man who was allotted a flat in the draw of lots told the police that he had not even applied for it.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police started investigations, which revealed a group of people conspired to buy several flats in the names of those from reserved categories – Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes – who were eligible for the flats but could not afford them. The conspirators meant to sell off these flats for huge profits.
So far, the police have arrested Deepak Kumar, who allegedly blew the lid off the scam after he fell out with his fellow real estate agents; retired DDA employee M.L. Gautam and real estate agents Raju Ram, Laxmi Narayan Meena and Vijay Pal.
Satbir Singh and Dinesh Dral were arrested for forging documents to open bank accounts in fictitious names. Suresh Kumar Meena, a Delhi-based real estate agent, was arrested March 19 and Jeet Ram – one of the key financiers – April 27.
–IANS