Yeida violated rules, lost revenue of ₹8,125 cr: CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its audit conducted from 2005 till date of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) has found that it allegedly violated the rulebook, took arbitrary decisions and caused revenue losses to the tune of at least ₹8,125.52 crore to the state exchequer.

The CAG had in 2018 started the audit of Yeida after the Yogi Adityanath government in 2017 introduced this audit as mandatory. Earlier, no such audit was done for agencies.

The CAG audit found alleged irregularities in the land acquisition procedures in Yeida during 2005-06 to 2020-21 financial years.

These irregularities include procedural violations, financial mismanagement, arbitrary decisions, land use conversions and violation of urban town planning rules leading to financial loss of ₹455 crore. The findings highlighted the serious concerns about the authority’s governance and operational framework.

Yeida chief executive officer Arun Vir Singh refused to comment on the CAG report, when HT reached out for a reaction.

The CAG audit report said that Yeida allegedly used the urgency clause of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 to acquire agricultural land from farmers without any requirement.

“This clause, intended for exceptional cases requiring immediate action, was invoked extensively by Yeida, often without legitimate justification. The urgency clause was applied to projects with completion timelines of three to four years, effectively denying landowners their statutory right to be heard under Section 5A of the Act. Despite the expedited approach, delays in land acquisition were rampant, ranging from 137 days to as much as 1,373 days, undermining the very urgency claimed by the authority. The misuse of this clause also led to the lapse of 36 acquisition proposals, resulting in a direct financial loss of ₹188.64 crore,” said the report.

The CAG further said that ₹128 crore was overpaid in 25 cases, where Yeida failed to adhere to market rates prescribed for such transactions.

“Instead, the authority applied higher rates, which included solatium, interest, and other components that were not applicable to government land. This deviation not only burdened the exchequer but also inflated project costs, placing an undue financial strain on the end users,” the report revealed.

The report also raised many instances where Yeida allegedly acquired land without an immediate requirement or a clear utilization plan, leading to significant financial blockages. For instance, in village Jahangirpur, Yeida acquired over 53 hectares of land against a requirement of just 35 hectares for a sub-station. The excess land, acquired at a cost of ₹93.05 crore, remains undeveloped to this day.

The audit has established that Yeida forwarded acquisition proposals for villages outside its planned area under Master Plan 2031, resulting in a loss of ₹4.92 crore due to the withdrawal of these proposals. This decision, taken without ensuring financial feasibility or alignment with the master plan, underscored a lack of strategic planning in the authority’s operations.

“We followed precedents set by other authorities like NOIDA and Greater Noida,” said a Yeida official, when asked about it.

The CAG report said Yeida’s defence emphasised the recurring procedural lapses and the authority’s failure to learn from past mistakes. The report recommended adherence to statutory provisions, regular audits, and robust control mechanisms to prevent such lapses.