Telangana HC Seeks Govt's Response on Kokapet Land to BRS

A division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising acting Chief Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice N. Rajeshwar Rao, on Tuesday issued notice to the Telangana government seeking a response on a PIL challenging allotment of 11 acres in Kokapet for a BRS office.

The land parcels in question are covered under survey numbers 239 and 240 in Kokapet village.

The bench directed the Chief Secretary, HMDA commissioner, chief commissioner of land administration and Ranga Reddy district collector to respond to the notices by August 16, by filing its contention on the objections raised by the petitioner challenging the allocation of the land to a political party for a throwaway price.

The court was dealing with a PIL filed by M. Padmanabha Reddy, the secretary of NGO Forum for Good Governance, challenging the allotment for Rs 3,41,25,000, when the market value was Rs 50 crore per acre.

Sarasani Satyam Reddy, senior counsel for the petitioner, informed the court



that 11 acres of prime land worth crores of rupees were allotted to BRS at a throwaway price, without following the tender process. Further, the counsel said that the proceedings allotting the land to the BRS were not posted in the public domain, and sought a direction to the government to furnish a copy of such proceedings.

J. Ramachandra Rao, Additional Advocate General of Telangana, informed the division bench that the Cabinet is yet to take a call on the allotment of the 11 acres of land in Kokapet to the BRS and, as and when a decision is taken, a copy of the proceedings will be made available in the public domain.

Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, after hearing the contentions of the Additional Advocate General, observed that if the Cabinet has not decided on fixing the price for the 11 acres, then the litigation was premature.

He directed the government to file its response within four weeks and adjourned the case to August 16