Hyderabad: The Hyderabad HC on Wednesday asked the Telangana government how it had been issuing notifications for land acquisition without revising the market value of lands as per the Telangana State Market Value Revision Guidelines and Rules.
A division bench comprising acting CJ Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A. Shankar Narayana was dealing with a PIL by former Congress MLA M. Kodanda Reddy seeking to declare the inaction of the respondents in revising the market value of rural lands as illegal.
Informing the court that the last revision was done in 2012, the counsel for the petitioner alleged that the government had deliberately refused to revise the market value so that adequate compensation need not be paid. He said the evaluation of market rate forms the basis for deciding compensation.
Advocate general K. Ramakrishna Reddy said that it is the policy decision of the government not to revise market values as the revision is only meant for collection of stamp duty for registering lands. When the bench asked whether there was any ban on revising market value, the AG replied in the negative. The bench also pointed out that when there is a rule for revision of market values every two years why the government was not revising it.
The AG said that collectors have powers to fix the prices in areas where lands are required to be acquired. He also said that there was no need for revision as there are other methods to arrive at market value. When the AG requested time to file a counter affidavit, the bench gave two weeks and asked the AG to explain the validity of initiating the land acquisition process without revising the market value. The bench posted the case to November 16.
