Hyderabad: A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Justice A. Rajashekar Reddy and Justice. T. Vinod Kumar directed the state government to not any take any steps to shift the Gaddiannaram fruit market from Kothapet to the Batasingaram Logistic Hub, till Friday.
The bench was adjudicating an appeal which challenged a single judge order of September 1 which allowed the government to shift the Kothapet fruit market after September 30 and asked traders and commission agents to vacate the premises by September 30.
Gangaiah Naidu, senior counsel, appearing for the appellants, Wholesale Fruit Commission Agents, informed the court that without notifying the market at Batasingaram, the government was trying to shift the fruit market. He said that produce must be traded only in a specified market area, otherwise it will attract a penalty.
Senior counsel submitted that no facilities had been created at Batasingaram, which was a temporary site of 40 acres, to run the fruit market for a year till the permanent fruit market was set up on 178 acres of land at Koheda village of Abdullapurmet mandal of Ranga Reddy district.
“Without any facilities and cold storage, traders will face difficulties to store perishable fruits. Farmers and fruit growers will be subjected to inconvenience,” Gangaiah Naidu said.
He said the Batasingaram site belongs to the HMDA, to which the marketing committee will have to pay rent of Rs 15 lakh per month. The government was silent on who would pay the rent.
Gangaiah Naidu said the traders had moved out the Kothapet site, which the marketing committee had purchased for Rs 1,500 crore in 1986 with its own funds, and were going to a rented premises only because the state Cabinet had decided to set up a super speciality hospital on the 22-acre site.
Senior counsel said the appellants welcomed the decision to set up the hospital but they wanted to till the permanent fruit market was being set up at Koheda.
J. Ramachander Rao, additional advocate-general, informed the court that the Cabinet had taken a decision to construct four superspeciality hospitals in the twin cities for which Rs 250 crore had been sanctioned. The other three hospitals had commenced, except the one at Kothapet as the matter was sub-judice. He said Rs 68 lakh had been sanctioned for creating additional facilities at the temporary market at Batasingaram.
The bench directed the Additional AG to place the government order, which notified the Batasingaram site as notified fruit market, in the court and adjourned the case to Friday. The court directed the government to not take any steps to shift the market for one day.
