The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Government buildings go under hammer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 11, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Government buildings go under hammer

By Our Staff Reporter

KURNOOL, DEC. 10. The Senior Civil Judge Court at Atmakur in Kurnool district auctioned important Government buildings in the town on Friday to pay to a landowner whose property was acquired for a tank. The Mandal Revenue Office was claimed for an amount of Rs 11 lakhs by a bidder, Malla Reddy, the Divisional Forest Office for Rs 14 lakhs by Y. Swami Reddy and the forest guesthouse for Rs 10.55 lakhs by Allu Venkata Subba Reddy.

The Senior Civil Judge, Prasada Rao, supervised the auction to pay the proceeds to Ranga Sai, whose land measuring 10 acres along with eucalyptus trees, was acquired in 1988 for building the Padmaraju Vagu tank at Indireswaram village.

Court ruling

According to reports, landowner, who dissented the award, moved the Senior Judge Civil court for enhancement of the compensation. The court fixed a price of Rs 122 for each 20-year-old tree, while the Forest Department had fixed a price of Rs 50 for a five-year-old tree earlier. The Government, which was not happy with the judgment, moved the High Court, which upheld the judgment of the lower court in favour of the landowner.

Even the Supreme Court also ratified the lower courts' judgment and did not allow the Government petition. As per the interim award, the Government paid an amount of Rs 43 lakhs, while over Rs 30 lakhs was still pending. Following this, the awardee moved the local court for executing its order. Five years passed since the upper courts passed the orders but nothing happened. Forty-five days ago, the court announced auction of Government properties and notices were published in the newspapers. The court was annoyed by the lukewarm response of the Revenue Department even after the final notice.

Keen competition

The judge pronounced that the court was taking the drastic step to avoid further loss of taxpayers' money as the Government had to pay interest at the rate of 15 per cent annum to the land owner, which itself would cross the original claim amount. There was heavy competition among the bidders and the top bidders paid one-fourth of the amount immediately. If the Government refuses to surrender the properties, it has to pay an amount of five per cent to bidders as penalty besides paying the landowner.

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Andhra Pradesh