Yamuna Expressway Authority paid for non-existent land, lost Rs 2.71 crore: CAG report

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The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) had purchased a land parcel in Gautam Buddh Nagar around seven years ago but did not verify the land records leading to losses worth Rs 2.71 crore, a CAG report has revealed.

It said that the UP Power Transmission Corporation Limited had requested YEIDA in June 2012 to allot 75 acres (30.3514 hectare) of land at Jahangirpur village in Gautam Buddh Nagar near the Yamuna Expressway for the construction of a 765 KV sub-station. A proposal for the acquisition of land for the sub-station was initiated in September 2012 by YEIDA officials which was approved in the same month by its then chief executive officer (CEO).

The YEIDA executed 159 sale deeds between December 2012 and December 2015 for the purchase of 54.365-hectare land spread over 150 khasras, it noted.

The audit noticed in March 2019 that out of 150 khasras of revenue records, the actual area in 17 khasras was 6.3990 hectares. The Authority, however, overlooked the area actually available in land records or verification reports submitted by the District Authority, and purchased an area measuring 7.98935 hectares through executing sale deeds relating to aforesaid 17 khasras. This has resulted in payment against 1.59035 hectare land which was not actually available in respective khasras or verification reports, observed the CAG report, tabled recently in the UP assembly.

The YEIDA paid Rs 13.60 crore as compensation, annuity and additional compensation for the purchase of 7.98935 hectares of land. Consequently, due to not reconciling purchased land with land records/verification reports, the YEIDA suffered a loss of Rs 2.71 crore on purchase of 1.59035-hectare land, the report said.

"Further, the YEIDA also incurred an expenditure of Rs 0.10 crore as stamp duty on the purchase of land against an area not available in records," the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)'s compliance audit report for the year ended March 2020 revealed.

The CAG report said that in its reply, the YEIDA accepted in  July 2021 that there was a difference of 1.5935 hectare between area mentioned in the 17 sale deeds and revenue records. Further, it stated that the purchase of land was done on the basis of land records made available by the District Authority.

The reply that the purchase was done on the basis of land records made available by the District Authority is not acceptable as the land mentioned in verification reports of the District Authority was less than the area against which payment was made. Hence, the YEIDA is fully responsible for purchasing unavailable land due to not exercising due diligence by its officials of the Land Department, the auditor said in its report.