Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp has issued NOCs for land mortgage to five new firms
Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) – which is the land acquisition division of the Odisha government – has reportedly issued no objection certificates (NOCs) for land mortgage to five new firms, between February and June 2014.
The five new firms to which Idco has issued NOCs for mortgaging land include Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL); Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL); Monnet Power Company Ltd; Emami Paper Mills; and Kolkata-based Saraf Agencies Ltd.
Idco’s move to issue of NOCs for land mortgage to five industries has come at a time when Idco is facing backlash over the irregularities that have been committed by the agency in allowing industries to mortgage leased land for raising loans.
The irregularities perpetrated by Idco were brought to the fore by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report for general and social sector for the year which ended in March 2012. In its report, which was recently tabled in the Odisha state assembly, the CAG has hit out at Idco for granting mortgage rights to industries; thereby marking a violation of various rules in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Noting that Idco “unauthorisedly issued” NOCs to industries for land mortgage, the CAG said in its report, that Idco essentially allowed industries to “raise loans on the basis of land allotted for industrial purpose, without adequate safeguards to ensure that such capital would actually be used in the industrial projects concerned.”
Source – Business Standard
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