Re-convey of land after 44 years: HC issues status quo on govt proceedings

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday ordered status quo over the government’s proceedings to re-convey a portion of acquired land to the legal heirs of the original owners after a gap of 44 years.

The land of 28 guntas and 26 square yards is in Sy. No. 48 of Hasnapur in Karimnagar mandal. Towards this the state government asked the legal heirs to pay a nominal amount of Rs 5,348, which was the market value of the land in 1988, including enhancements made with nine per cent interest.

The proceeding was challenged by a local person, an advocate, who told the court that the Supreme Court had held that land once acquired for public purposes cannot be re-assigned to the owners or their legal heirs.

He also submitted that the apex court in ‘Government of AP vs Syed Akbar’ had mentioned that non-applicability of Section 54-A of Land Acquisition Act, which allows re-conveying of the agricultural land to the original owner or the successors. The land was acquired in 1978 for the construction of the Lower Manair dam in Karimnagar. It was left unused and has since become a commercial land whose present market value is in crores, the petitioner said.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy, issued notices to CCLA, Karimnagar district collector and others to respond to the PIL.