Chhattisgarh govt tables bill to acquire college

The assembly will discuss the legislation on Thursday.

Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singh Deo on Wednesday introduced a bill for the immediate acquisition of a loss-making privately-run medical college in Durg district, a decision hugely criticised by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has attributed the move to nepotism, not public interest.

Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singh Deo (PTI/ File photo)

As he introduced the Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College (Acquisition) Bill 2021 in the state assembly on Wednesday, health minister Singh Deo said: “The present owners of the college requested the state government to take over the institute in view of their financial difficulties. It is necessary to take over the medical college immediately in the public interest”.

The minister said the acquisition will lead to an annual financial burden of about ₹140 crore.

“This is not in the public interest”, said senior BJP legislator and former minister Brijmohan Agrawal in his brief statement.

The assembly will discuss the legislation on Thursday.

The move turned controversial after it emerged that among those on the board of the medical college set up in memory of veteran Congress leader Chandulal Chandrakar is a member of the joint family into which chief minister Bhupesh Baghel’s daughter is married.

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal has called the proposed acquisition “sheer deceit and misuse of public funds”. BJP MP Rajyavardhan Rathore said it was furthering the “family’s interest on the pretext of public interest”.

To be sure, Bhupesh Baghel has rebutted the allegations on Tuesday, insisting that his only aim was to save the medical college and benefit the state’s students. “By acquiring (it), we will save the time to open a new medical college and we will get 150 doctors every year,” the chief minister said.

According to the bill, the government will appoint a special officer to conduct a valuation of all the movable and immovable assets of the college. “..the payable amount considering the inevitability of the acquisition would be double of the actual valuation amount,” section 8 of the bill said.

The bill said the state will not pay any other amount for the college or shall not be liable to pay towards any liability incurred before the acquisition. The liabilities of the college prior to vesting in the government shall continue to be the liabilities of its former owners and may be recovered from them by the lenders through normal procedures of law, it said. This would include any outstanding dues of its employees as well.

A social worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Considering the need to save a medical college, the move to acquire seems noble but the question of nepotism will arise if the valuation of the properties is done on the higher side and the bill provides double of that amount as payment to previous owners.”

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