Temple land acquisition: HC slams Telangana govt for 50 yr delay in compensation

The High Court directed that steps be taken to pay compensation within four months under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has strongly criticised the government for failing to pay compensation even after five decades for temple land acquired in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

The court expressed displeasure that, despite issuing orders earlier, the authorities had not implemented them, warning that such inaction could amount to contempt of court.

60 acres of land acquired in 1975

The case pertains to 60 acres of land in Annapureddypalli village, acquired in 1975 by the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department for the construction of a road from Annapureddypalli to Chaparallapalli. The land belonged to Sri Balaji Venkateswara Swamy Devasthanam.

MS Teachers

Challenging the prolonged non-payment of compensation, Temple Executive Officer P Venkataramana filed a petition. Justice NV Shravan Kumar heard the matter.

Appearing on behalf of the Endowments Department, government counsel Bhukya Mangilal Naik argued that repeated representations seeking compensation had been made to authorities since 1980, but without any response.

Rulings made in 2008, 2022

Despite a single judge’s order in 2008 and a division bench ruling in 2022 directing payment, officials had failed to comply.

Counsel for the R&B Department stated that the district collector had recently instructed the Executive Engineer to submit land acquisition proposals and requested four months’ time to complete the process.

Recording these submissions, the High Court directed that steps be taken to pay compensation within four months under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

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