Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati (file pic)
Mayawati has been cleared of allegations of a scam in the allotment of farm houses in Noida near Delhi during her last term as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The Lokayukta or ombudsman of the state, NK Mehrotra, has found no irregularities in the distribution of 150 plots of land in 2009 by Mayawati's government.
She was voted out of power three years later, and Akhilesh Yadav replaced her as the chief minister.
In August, Mr Yadav asked the ombudsman to investigate claims by the Noida Authority, which is in charge of developing the region, that 1000 crores had been lost because land had been allotted without transparency and at below-market rates, allowing windfall gains to firms and private individuals.
Justice Mehrotra has rejected charges of financial losses to the government but has said the process used to decide who would get the land was arbitrary and flawed. He has asked the government to craft guidelines that will be followed in the future for allocating land in Noida.
The ombudsman has also said that many of the charges against Mayawati were made by political opponents who failed to testify for him.