The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled 1250 plot allotments made by the Noida Development Authority in July 2005 and directed the CBI to continue its probe into the land scam.

A bench headed by Justice H K Sema and comprising Justice Aftab Alam dismissed the petition filed by the Noida authorities against the Allahabad high court direction for the CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities into the draw of lots for the allotment of 1,210 plots and which had caused huge losses to the Uttar Pradesh exchequer.

The apex court, in its interim order on November 18, 2005, had stayed the CBI probe.

A petition filed by an Non-government organisation in the high court had alleged that the beneficiaries of the plots included the kith and kin of the judges of the apex court and cigh court as well as bureaucrats.

The computerised draw of lots had taken place on July 2, 2005 during the regime of Mulayam Singh Yadav and was cancelled on July 4 after large-scale agitation.

The bench today also said new allotments will be on the basis of fresh lots.