The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has issued a nullification on the notice to the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development to suspend all activities related to the allocation of 4,000 flats under the previous administration’s ‘Gedhoruveriya’ housing scheme.
As such, ACC has now effectively given permission to the ministry to start the flat allocation process, with the provision that problematic applications be reviewed and reconsidered without the eventual outcomes affecting points awarded to applications that had already met all requirements as specified under the scheme.
The commission also directed the ministry to apply the review process in a manner that all applications are treated equally, within set parameters, and to develop procedures to address any gaps so as to apply the same standards in reviewing the forms.
The ACC launched its investigation into the Gedhoruveriya flats when the list was made public at the tail-end of the previous administration. The commission halted the process because of allegations that the then administration had awarded flats to those who, according to the scheme’s terms and conditions, were not entitled to them.