New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Saturday observed that the allotment of public properties must be transparent and the time has come to do away with allotment, particularly plots, on the basis of discretionary quota, as this inevitably leads to corruption, nepotism and favouritism.

A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna, said: "Allotment of public properties must be transparent and has to be fair and non-arbitrary. In such matters, public interest only has to be the prime guiding consideration".

The bench added that the allotment of plots in the discretionary quota cannot be at the whims of the person in power or the public servants who are dealing with the allotment of plots in the discretionary quota.

The bench said: "the day has come to do away with allotment of government largess on the basis of discretionary quota as this inevitably leads to corruption, nepotism and favouritism". The bench emphasized that public interest should be the prime guiding principle in allotment of public properties.

The bench said when a democratic government in exercise of its discretion selects the recipients for its largess, then discretion should be exercised objectively, rationally, intelligibly, fairly and in a non-arbitrary manner. "It should not be subjective and according to the private opinion and/or the whims and fancies of the persons in power and/or the public servants," it added.

Justice Shah, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said even if guidelines are issued to be followed while allotment of the plots under the discretionary quota, it is found that many a time they are hardly followed or are manipulated to suit the particular circumstances.

"Therefore, the best thing is to do away with such discretionary quota and allotments of the public properties/plots must be through public auction by and large," said Justice Shah.

The top court allowed a petition filed by the Odisha government and cleared decks for prosecution of three officials, who secretly distributed prime lands at a commercial complex in Bhubaneswar at throw away price to their family members and relatives.

The top court set aside the high court judgment quashing the criminal proceedings, saying it embarked upon examining evidence as if it was conducting the mini-trial. The top court said: "Even in the case where the policy decision is taken to allot the plots to a particular class like the downtrodden class etc in that case also the guidelines must be strictly followed and the allotment must reflect the fair play and non arbitrariness and should have objective criteria/procedure."

The top court made it clear that action needs to be taken against the officials, prima facie responsible for the illegality in the allotment of the plots to the relatives or family members.