KOCHI: The Vigilance Court ruled out VACB’s explanation that the government would have been forced to pay more if additional compensation clause was not included in the agreement with Seematti for acquiring land for the Metro project.
In the quick verification report, VACB stated that, had former District Collector M G Rajamanickam not agreed on the amount of Rs 80 lakh for a cent of land, the government would have been forced to pay Rs 91 lakh per cent under section 40 of Land Acquisition Act. Section 40 deals with acquisition in case of urgency.
The section states that an additional compensation of 75 per cent of the total compensation shall be paid by the Collector in respect to land and property for acquisition under section 40.
“But it can be seen that the assessment by the Vigilance is mistaken. The total compensation was only the market value of the land which was Rs 26 lakh. Rs 52 lakh was arrived at by adding 100 per cent solatium to the market value of Rs 26 lakh. So, as per Section 40(5), the government had to pay additional compensation to 75 per cent of the total compensation of Rs 26 lakh per cent which is Rs 19.5 lakh. So the final payable amount would come to Rs 45.5 lakh only,” the court observed.
According to the court, the explanation offered by the Vigilance that the state would have been forced to pay Rs 91 lakh per cent in case land was acquired under Section 40 of LA Act cannot be accepted.