Naveen to look into charge against Arukh

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday  said he would “look into” the allegation against Law and Rural Development Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh who allegedly availed two houses from Bhubaneswar  Development Authority (BDA) under discretionary quota.  “You are telling me about it now. We will look into it,” Naveen told mediapersons here. Last week, he had said that he would “certainly examine” if any specific complaint of illegality on discretionary quota comes to the fore.Arukh allegedly got two houses from the BDA, one in the name of his wife Jaylaxmi at Kalinga Vihar in 2007 and another in his name at Pokhariput in 2009. In both the cases, Arukh allegedly got houses of 2,400 square feet each under discretionary quota of two Urban Development ministers, sources said. While the first house was allotted in the name of his wife in 2007 when K V Singh Deo was the Urban Development minister, the second house was allotted to him by Minister of State for Urban Development Badri Narayan Patra in 2009.Patra, who is now Minister of State for Higher Education, told this paper that he had allotted a house to Arukh under discretionary quota. “Arukh had applied for a house claiming that he did not have any land or house in Bhubaneswar master plan area. Therefore, I allotted a house in his favour according to the law under discretionary quota,” Patra said. The BDA guidelines clearly mentioned that one could avail a house if he did not have any house or land in the State capital area. “How could I know that the affidavit was false or true”, he said.  Meanwhile, the Opposition parties have started gunning for the head of Arukh. Senior Congress leader and former law minister Narasingh Mishra said anybody swearing a false affidavit for acquiring anything or for obtaining favour by misrepresentation is a criminal offence and liable to be prosecuted. Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra also described this as a grave offence.  However, despite repeated attempts, Arukh could not be contacted for his reaction to the allegation against him.