CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday issued notice to 79 former and present legislators from Haryana, seeking reply on allotment of residential plots to them by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in Panchkula.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover issued notice to all these leaders after hearing the ongoing petition moved by Panchkula-based Herald Group Housing Co-operative Society. Among prominent persons who have been issued notices include Kumari Shelja, Vinod Sharma, Kiran Chaudhary, Deepender Singh Hooda, Naveen Jindal, Raghuveer Kadian, Randeep Surjewala, Phool Chand Mulana, Kiran Chaudhary, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, Chander Mohan, Hansraj Bhardwaj and Shamsher Singh Surjewala.

The decision to issue notices came after HUDA authorities, responding to the high court orders of August 19, 2009, submitted the list of beneficiary MLAs and MPs during the resumed hearing on the petition. In their petition, the petitioner Society had sought directions to cancel the allotment, alleging that it arbitrary and illegal.

These MLAs and MPs have been allotted 14 marls plots each in Mansa Devi Complex at what the petitioners alleged was a throwaway price of Rs 28 lakh each as against prevailing open market price of nearly Rs 1.5 crore.