The allotment of prime land in Delhi during the National Democratic Alliance's rule was done on the basis of the political weight carried by the beneficiary organisations in terms of their proximity to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
According to the Yogesh Chandra Committee report on the allotments, the Pushpa Vihar Ayyappa Samiti and Dharam Yatra Maha Sangh, an RSS outfit, were allotted land because of their ideological proximity to the people in power.
Former BJP MPs, including Saheb Singh Varma, K L Sharma and O Rajgopal, had taken up the Samiti's case with the urban development ministry.
Varma had held a series of discussions with the then urban development minister, Jagmohan, in 2000 after the Samiti's petition was rejected in June 1999.
Subsequently, a 400 sq metre plot was allotted at M B Road on October 11, 2000.
Unsatisfied, the Samiti wrote to the ministry again asking for more land and while the application was in process, it started construction on adjacent plots.
Despite strong notes by bureaucrats and filing of even a police case for unauthorised construction, the organisation was allotted additional land and its illegal construction was regularised, the report said.
In the Sangh's case, its general secretary, Ram Avtar, applied for 500 sq metres on September 19, 2000 claiming that the organisation was operating in 14 states and some foreign countries.
The application said the organisation was set up in 1995 to search, develop and provide facilities at national pilgrimage sites.
However, he met with rejection in May 2001. Avtar again wrote to Jagmohan with the same request.
The proposal was forwarded with a note that "in this case, as would be observed from the letter, (the then) prime minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee, VHP leader Ashok Singhal and Urban Development Minister Jagmohan are its board members..."
The committee observed, "Merely having the names of VIPs on a letterhead cannot be the basis for assuming the bona-fide of a society or trust..."
It said the papers were never sent to the home ministry for verification of the group.
