Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday said that it will hear arguments to decide the question whether a district collector can enter into an agreement with landowners for acquisition of their lands even before the award proceedings have begun, that too when the objections of other landowners over such acquisition are pending.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Uma Devi was dealing with a petition by Srinivas and six other farmers of Mamidyal village, Mulugu mandal of Siddipet district challenging the validity of rule 6 of the TS Land Acquisition (Consent Award, Voluntary Acquisition and Lump sum payment towards Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Rules, 2017.
The petitioners contended that they filed objections against the proposed acquisition of lands in Mamidyal and other three villages Bailampur, Thanedarpally and Thanedarpally Tanda for transfer of land and all rights therein to the requisition agency for construction of Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir as part of Kaleswaram LI project.
They told the court that the collector was entering into agreements with the other farmers without the objections being finalised as per Section 15 and was issuing final declaration under Section 19 of the Act, 2017.
They contended that the collector could do this only at the stage of award proceedings and not before the final declaration under Section 19 is published.
TS A-G D. Prakash Reddy said that the government will not acquire the lands of the petitioners using force but will follow the law.
The bench said that the issue needs examination as the objections filed regarding the project itself should not become redundant.
The bench posted the case on August 17.
