Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has taken a step-in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the allocation of more than six acres of valuable land in the state capital. The land was allocated to Viswa Balija, Kapu, Thelaga, Vontari, Thurpukapu Sanghala Samakhya.
The bench, led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti, has served notice to the State government, instructing them to provide their responses.
However, the bench has not granted a stay on the land allotment, despite the petitioner’s request. The petitioner’s counsel, P. Shashi Kiran, pointed out that a similar matter had been stayed by the High Court previously.
In 2021, the government had issued G.O. Ms No. 47, allocating five acres to two caste associations All India Velama Association and Kamma Vaari Seva Sanghala Samakhya. A PIL challenging this allotment had been filed by retired professor A. Vinayak Reddy, resulting in an interim order to stay the allocation.
During the recent hearing, Shashi Kiran urged the bench to stay the current land allocation to the Samakhya, arguing that the issues raised in both PIL petitions were identical.
The land in question is located in Khanamet village of Serilingampally mandal in Rangareddy district. He also highlighted that the land had been allotted to the association at an unusually low price, and construction had already begun in the earlier allocation.
The bench, in its interim order, expressed the need to hear the other side before considering an interim order.
Additionally, it emphasized that an interim order from a coordinate bench is not a binding precedent.
The court directed the government to file its responses, and the matter will be further deliberated upon in subsequent hearings.
