HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana high court on Monday ordered status quo in respect of land that was sought to be acquired for a proposed multi-purpose industrial park in Vikarabad district and directed the state to thrash out issues before the single judge who had earlier stayed the notification for land acquisition.
The state and its revenue authorities filed two appeals against the stay order and urged the court to allow them to acquire land for the project. The single judge earlier heard two pleas from the farmers of Lagacherla and Hakimpet villages of Dudyal mandal where the state is proposing to acquire 850 acres from both the villages and stayed the process.
Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy said that they already acquired 182 acres in Hakimpet and 35 acres in Lagacherla and compensation awards were passed. “Now, the single judge stayed the preliminary notification. We will not dispossess anyone without compensating the land owners and it serves no purpose to stay the process,” the AG said seeking an order vacating the stay order.
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara asked the state to file a counter before the single judge and also file a plea to vacate the stay order.
Farmers’ counsel Gandra Mohan Rao said that the state has given up the social impact assessment survey. The survey has to be fulfilled even before the issuance of the preliminary notification, he said. The AG said they are acquiring land through consent awards. The petitioners who approached the court have only two acres of assigned land and it is not fair to stall the whole process at the behest of two individuals, the AG said.
The bench modified the single judge’s stay order into a status quo and directed the state to file its pleas before the single judge and disposed of the state appeals.
