Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday granted a week to the TS government to explain why the market values of properties have not been revised since 2012.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A. Shankar Narayana was dealing with a PIL by Congress former MLA M. Kodanda Reddy seeking to declare as illegal the inaction of the respondents in revising and updating the market value of land in rural areas and in correcting anomalies in the market values.
The bench asked TS advocate-general K. Ramakrishna Reddy to file a sworn affidavit explaining that whether district collectors have revised the market value of lands before issuing notifications under the New Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
During the hearing, the A-G told the court that in 2013, the government revised the market value of lands in the state.
Counsel appearing for the petitioner objected to the A-G’s submission and placed a judgment of the court setting aside the notification issued in 2013 for revision of market values.
Counsel told the bench that the rules mandate revision every two years in rural areas and the evaluation of market rate forms the basis for compensation when lands are acquired.
While adjourning the case to next week, the bench told the A-G that it wanted specific information regarding the exercise carried out by district collectors before issuing notifications for acquisition of lands and also the stand of the government in light of the provisions under the Act 2013, and rules under Indian Stamp Act.
