Oppn walks out over Govt's reluctance for judicial probe

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 26 (UNI) The Congress-led Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala today staged a walk-out in the State Assembly in protest against the reluctance of the Government to order a judicial inquiry into the sale of about 70 acres of land by the public sector HMT Ltd to a Mumbai-based company for setting up the Rs 4,000 crore Cyber City project at Kalamassery.

However, the State Government clarified that it had no role in the sale of land by the Central public sector unit.

The Opposition staged a walk out when Speaker K Radhakrishanan rejected a notice for an adjournment motion sought to be moved by Mr V D Satheesan of the Congress.

Terming the Opposition charges as baseless, Revenue Minister K P Rajendran said the State Government had not interferred in the sale of land to the Blue Star Realtors Ltd (BSRL), a subsidiary of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).

The HMT had the right for transaction of the land and the decision for sale was taken at a high-level meeting of the company board, he added.

Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy said the land was given to the HMT for a special purpose and if it failed to fulfill the promise, the Government had the power to take it back.

''We are not against development and industrialisation. But the whole process should be carried out in a transparent manner,'' he added.

He said if the Government had nothing to hide, it should order a judicial inquiry into the HMT land deal.

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