The Uttar Pradesh government removed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) chairman Anil Kumar Sagar (IAS:1998:UP) and put him on the waiting list for new posting, late on Saturday. Sagar has also been relieved from his other charges – Principal Secretary infrastructure and industrial development and IT and electronics and NRI Affairs departments .
The action was necessitated by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court, which had made critical observations regarding irregularities in YEIDA, on December 11. The court had directed the government to take suitable action against him; otherwise, it would pass necessary orders on the next hearing, scheduled for today.
The action against Sagar is the fall out of a controversial decision he made while serving as both the chairman of YEIDA and Principal Secretary, UP industrial department. Sagar is accused of issuing contradictory orders in two similar revision petitions filed by allottees of the Yamuna Authority while acting as the revisional authority.
The court was hearing a writ petition, filed by a builder namely UG Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, alleging that the revisional authority issued two diametrically opposite orders on similar matters—one favouring the petitioner and the other ruling against it.
Justice Pankaj Bhatia had noted gross anomalies in the authority and directed the state government to take appropriate action against the official or risk court intervention. The bench had granted time until Monday for the state government to respond.
