After his release from incarceration on corruption charges, Suresh Kalmadi rushed to his hometown Pune where his loyalists greeted him at the airport. The brazen and repulsive show of solidarity with someone accused of defalcation of huge public money was not that curious as one slogan: “Sabse bada khiladi Suresh Kalmadi”. If the slogan is to be translated into English, it says, “All time big player is Suresh Kalmadi”.

Of course Kalmadi could not be faulted for the ingenuity of his loyalists. But the manner in which he collaborated with moneybags, top bureaucracy and politicians to manipulate the system for his Formula One car race in Greater Noida last year justifies the slogan every bit. Indeed he appears to be an all-time big player. But this slogan is incomplete in the sense that when it comes to shady land deals and dubious methods of making money, Kalmadi could be seen cosying up to UP chief minister Mayawati as well. And Mayawati finds no hesitation in dealing with Kalmadi acolytes either.

A PIL filed in the supreme court, admitted on February 13 for hearing, reveals an intriguing and subversive collaboration of the system to favour those who have money and clout without bothering about sense of justice, propriety and even established principles of law.

The sequence of events that culminated in the hosting of formula one race to the delight of elites reads like unravelling of a plot hatched carefully by powerful people to promote cronyism of the worst order. The story begins on June 2007 when Kalmadi claimed to have received a letter of intent from Formula One chief Brenie Eccelestone to host the car race event in India. The letter started a search for the right venue when FI track designer Hermann Tilke visited Sohna in Haryana and Greater Noida.

With Haryana not showing any interest in the project, Kalmadi and F1 team approached a powerful corporate house JP Associates Limited to build the track in Greater Noida. Sunder Mulchandani, a Kalmadi-acolyte, introduced F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone to Manoj Gaur, executive chairman of the Jaypee group. That the choice fell on Jaypee group is not without reason. This corporate house is known for wielding considerable influence in the Mayawati regime and had bagged the contract for the prestigious Taj Expressway.

This paved the way for signing of a shareholder agreement by JP associates Ltd with Sulbha Realty of Kalmadi’s son, Sumeer Kalmadi, and Trackwork International Private Ltd of Sunder Mulchandani. Thus came into existence JPSK (Jay Prakash Sumeer Kalmadi) Sports Private Limited with Kalmadi’s daughter Payal Aditya Bhartia and son-in-law Aditya Bhartia as independent directors. Ultimately JPSK entered into an agreement with the Federation Internationale De L’automobile (FIA) for holding the Formula One event in India. However, the Kalmadi family withdrew from the JPSK subsequently due to clamour in the media. The JPSK was later converted to the JPSIL which is the subsidiary of the JP group.

Interestingly all this coincided with the UP government framing a policy to create a special development zone (SDZ) which stipulated that around 1,000 hectare area on the Taj Expressway would be created with sports as the core activity. The terms and conditions for those willing to take up the project were tailored to suit the Jaypee group. In fact the conditions for the eligibility were drawn in such a manner as to foreclose all options for possible competition to the Jaypee group during bidding.

Ultimately the JPSIL signed 24 lease deeds with the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) for land measuring over 918.13 hectares which is below the mandatory stipulation of 1,000 hectares to qualify as the SDZ. The policy was surreptitiously changed through an order by VN Garg, principal secretary, industrial development, through an order on May 22, 2009 to include projects of 500 hectares and above to qualify for SDZ.

Having cleared all the hurdles for the smooth acquisition, the Jaypee group signed 24-odd leases between September 24, 2009 and May 5, 2010. The key architect of the SDZ policy in 2007, industrial commissioner Atul Kumar Gupta, was rewarded with the post of chief secretary. Even post retirement, he has been suitably looked after with a post in the UP Public Service Commission.

Once the land was allotted to JPSIL, the state bureaucracy moved at breakneck speed to clear all hurdles for JPSIL. On May 5, 2011, JPSIL sought relief in various taxes which were granted by violating all principles of propriety and established rules. For instance, the DM was directed by a secretary of the government to exempt the F1 car race from the entertainment tax. Similarly, stamp duty running into hundreds of crores of rupees was exempted  through a notification within a month. And if you want to know why these exemptions were granted to the Jaypee Associates, hold your breath! These exemptions were given to meet exigencies arising out of the global economic downturn.

The manner in which the SDZ policy was drafted to favour the Jaypee group appears beyond doubt a colourable exercise of power by the political executive and bureaucracy to favour the Jaypee group. The SDZ policy is neither approved by the state legislature nor by the state cabinet. The SDZ is created by an executive order which overlaps the provision of the special economic zone (SEZ)—a policy approved by the state and the union government as well. Yet the SDZ is given all those exemptions which are granted to the SEZ.

What is absurd is the pretext of the global economic slowdown taken by the Mayawati government to curry favours on the Jaypee group. No doubt the building of the F1 track was a highly skilled project which did not create jobs for local people. Similarly the land acquired for this project is purchased at a pittance and  being sold at exorbitant premium for residential and commercial purposes. While the Jaypee group is the obvious beneficiary of this munificence ,  Suresh Kalmadi does pair with Mayawati as the biggest ever-player by hosting the event.