IN WHAT raises questions of battle of curiosity, the Chhattisgarh authorities, in an uncommon transfer, plans to take over, by way of a regulation, a financially-strapped medical faculty owned by a household into which Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s daughter has married.
The state authorities is engaged on a Invoice to accumulate privately-owned Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical School in Durg. This faculty is owned by Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Hospital (CCMH), an unlisted non-public firm, registered in March 1997.
Chandulal Chandrakar was a Congress chief, a five-term Lok Sabha MP from Durg, and a Union minister prior to now. He died in 1995. The hospital was promoted in his reminiscence by the Chandrakar neighborhood, and the Director of CCMH is Mangal Prasad Chandrakar. He is likely one of the 59 shareholders, holding about 4% within the firm.
The draft Invoice, seen by The Indian Categorical, says the hospital requested the state authorities to accumulate the faculty because it was in “monetary difficulties”. Many college students are finding out within the medical faculty, notes the draft Invoice in its ‘Assertion of Object and Causes’, and that the state authorities is happy that an “fast acquisition” is “vital in public curiosity”.
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PremiumWhereas the liabilities of the faculty shall be that of the house owners of CCMH, the state will undertake a valuation train of the movable and immovable property of the faculty and pay the quantity to CCMH, based on the draft Invoice.
A bit of bureaucrats coping with the recordsdata are, nonetheless, “uncomfortable” with the choice, because the
The CM’s daughter, Divya Baghel, is married to Kshitij Chandrakar, whose father Vijay Chandrakar is the youthful brother of Mangal Prasad Chandrakar, the Director of CCMH.
The federal government had swung into motion to accumulate the faculty after Baghel introduced it virtually six months again. On February 2, he had tweeted, “The work to accumulate the non-public hospital beneath the federal government will begin quickly.”
Bureaucrats level to a few particular points that increase a purple flag: i) CCMH’s complete excellent debt is Rs 125 crore, of which a big half is unsecured; ii) The medical faculty being acquired was accused of ‘fraudulent’ actions by the Medical Council of India in its assembly on April 12, 2018, and iii) The faculty doesn’t even have recognition since 2017.
The Chief Minister’s Workplace didn’t reply to an inventory of questions despatched by The Indian Categorical. When contacted, S Bharatidasan, Director of Public Relations, Chhattisgarh mentioned, “The Invoice goes to be introduced on this session of Meeting. Till it’s introduced, no questions concerning the Invoice or its circumstances may very well be offered by the involved secretary.”
Kshitij Chandrakar, son-in-law of Baghel, who heads the All India Skilled Congress unit within the state, acknowledged MP Chandrakar was his uncle. “The brothers (his father Vijay and uncle Mangal Prasad) had an amicable separation round 6-7 years in the past,” he mentioned.
However he mentioned he favoured the acquisition for the “300-odd college students” of the faculty. “If the federal government is getting a purposeful faculty at a worth a lot lower than what they’d pay to construct a brand new faculty, whereas additionally serving to out the scholars, it’s a good and welcome resolution,” he mentioned.
Laxman Chandrakar, Government Director, CCMH, and in addition a shareholder (3.75%) mentioned the corporate’s board of administrators had requested authorities intervention after going through financial hardships. “This isn’t a hidden indisputable fact that we’ve got money owed on us. We requested the federal government to save lots of the faculty,” he mentioned.
Devkumar Chandrakar, additionally an Government Director, CCMH, and a shareholder (3.75%) mentioned he was conscious of the Invoice to be launched on this session. He additionally confirmed the faculty didn’t have recognition since 2017. “We didn’t get recognition for any yr since 2017, this yr’s recognition from MCI is pending,” he mentioned.
The federal government, the draft Invoice says, pays Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Hospital — the proprietor of the faculty — an quantity to be determined based mostly on the valuation of the movable and immovable properties of the faculty. A Particular Officer, proposed to be appointed, will get a yr to submit the valuation of the faculty’s properties to the federal government.
In accordance with the draft Invoice, the debt of Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical School shall stay the legal responsibility of the proprietor “earlier than the vesting by the Authorities and may be recovered by their collectors from them by following regular strategy of regulation”.
A member of the family carefully associated to Chandulal Chandrakar has additionally blamed the federal government for nepotism. Amit Chandraker, the grandson of Chandulal Chandrakar’s elder brother Chunnilal Chandrakar, and Joint Secretary, state Congress, advised The Indian Categorical, “The Chief Minister is making an attempt to learn his (daughter’s) in-laws by making a brand new regulation,” he alleged.
Responding to this, Kshitij Chandrakar mentioned, “It’s illogical that the identical household that didn’t need to do something with Chandulal ji whereas he was alive is combating for him. They only need to capitalise on the identify of a fantastic chief.”
Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Hospital reported turnover of Rs 49.67 crore in 2019-20, 26 per cent lower than Rs 67.38 crore within the earlier yr, based on its monetary statements for 2019-20 obtained from the Registrar of Firms. The corporate’s web price is totally eroded, and it reported losses of Rs 9.98 crore in 2019-20, greater than losses of Rs 8.55 crore within the earlier yr.
The corporate’s complete debt for the year-ended March 31, 2020, stood at Rs 125.26 crore, of which unsecured loans accounted for nearly 43 per cent or Rs 53.81 crore.
