Hyderabad: Justice A.V. Seshasai of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday ruled that the government could not take away any private land without initiating the proceedings prescribed under the Land Acquis-ition Act.
The judge found fault with the authorities for constructing a Zilla Parishad High School on a private land without issuing notification under the Land Acquisition Act.
Mr R. Nagappa, an RTC driver of Zaheerabad, had moved the court in 2008 challenging the action of the authorities in constructing the school without his consent and also not paying him compensation for taking away two acres in the Dommata gram panchayat.
Counsel for the petitioner, Mr Suresh Kumar, told the court that his client was the absolute owner of the land and his name duly reflected in all the revenue records and he also possessed a pattadar pass book. He said that the local gram panchayat had taken active steps for construction of the school building on the said land when the petitioner was residing at Zaheerabad for work and the district collector and other authorities had also given permission to construct the school. When the judge sought revenue authorities’ response, they admitted that no acquisition proceedings were initiated in this case and that the petitioner owned the land.
Expressing his displeasure at the authorities, the judge directed them to initiate land acquisition proceedings and to pay compensation to the petitioner within three months.
