Hyderabad, February 13: The Department of Information Technology & Communication (IT&C), Government of Andhra Pradesh, on Friday maintained that it had no role in the alleged irregularities pertaining to the allotment of land to the Raheja Mindspace IT park.
Responding to a petition filed by advocate T Sriranga Rao against them, K Ratna Prabha, Principal Secretary, M Gopi Krishna, Special Secretary and PS Murthy, Joint Director (promotion, FAC) of the IT & C department clarified that the department was not a party to the ultimate decision regarding transfer of additional land to Rahejas.
The petition was filed against Prabha, Gopi Krishna and former MD and vicechairman of APIIC BP Acharya and three others, including two from the Raheja group, for allegedly conspiring to reduce APIIC’s stake in the joint venture.
In May 2005, Rahejas proposed to increase the equity capital of the JV to `20 crore. The APIIC was requested to contribute `2.09 crore towards its share of 11 per cent. The APIIC in turn addressed a letter dated May 5, 2005 to the Principal Secretary (IT&C) proposing to transfer land at Nanakramguda to the JV as its contribution of `2.09 crore.
According to the officers, the IT&C department had conveyed its suggestion to the APIIC in its letter dated 15-12-2005 that “since the land in Nanakramguda area is scarce, APIIC may consider not to increase its stake in the equity in the joint venture — Raheja IT Park (Hyd) Pvt Ltd and to inform their decision in this regard.” They termed the correspondence as only a suggestion to re-examine the issue and not a conclusive order.
“The total issue was dealt with by the officers very carefully, consciously, basing on available information with utmost sincerity,” she said.
–Agencies