Puducherry Health dept makes excess payment of RS 5.91 crores to compensate Hospital land acquisition

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry Health department has paid an excess amount of Rs 5.91 crores as interest on compensation for land acquired for the construction of  Rajiv Gandhi Women and Children Hospital, pointed out the CAG in its report for the year ending on March 21.

The interest amount was worked out without taking into consideration the amount of compensation already paid by the department, resulting in excess payment of interest, said the CAG.

The Directorate of Health and Family Welfare Services of the Health Department through the Land Acquisition Officer (LAO) acquired  3,59,515 sq.ft. of land (Land-I) in October 1998 and land measuring 18,643 sq.ft. (Land-II) in October 2000 for the construction of the Woman and Child Hospital.

The LAO fixed market value of the Land-1in April 2000  at Rs 115 per sq.ft. and the market value of Land-ll as in December 2000 at  Rs 300 per sq.ft

However based on the representation by the land owners, the market value of both the pieces of land (Land-I and II) was enhanced in March 2016  by the High Court, Madras to Rs 580 per sq.ft. The total compensation is payable for Land-I and Land-II 31.63 crore ( 30.21 crore and 1.42 crores respectively) from the date of taking possession.

While calculating interest for delayed payment of compensation for the period January 2000 to November 2019, the department calculated the interest without adjusting the compensation amount already paid during May 2002 and thereafter.  Considering the part payments made on each occasion for Land-1, the interest worked out to be Rs 64 crores, whereas the department paid Rs 69.86 crores, resulting in excess payments of Rs 5.86 crores. Similarly for Land –II , an excess amount of Rs 0.05 crores was paid.

The CAG advised the department to fix responsibility for the lapse and also explore the possibility of recovery of excess payments from the land owners