Hyderabad : In a significant relief to hundreds of plot owners in Tellapur, Telangana high court has quashed land acquisition proceedings initiated nearly two decades ago for a proposed township, holding that the acquisition was marred by both procedural and substantive illegality.
They argued that the term “township” was a recognised statutory expression and that completion of the acquisition process had been delayed because of interim court orders that had remained in force since 2007. The state govt and HMDA, however, maintained that planned township development constituted a valid public purpose. The authorities also relied on subsequent statutory provisions that protected acquisition proceedings affected by court-imposed stays.
The court also found fault with the Section 5-A enquiry conducted under the Land Acquisition Act, noting that the exercise had been reduced to a mere formality.
Objections raised by landowners were rejected without adequate reasons and without meaningful consideration of the land’s history and earlier govt decisions, it said. Rejecting these contentions, the court noted that the same acquisition notification had already been quashed in a related Tellapur land acquisition case in Feb. It observed that the acquisition could not be held invalid for one set of similarly placed landowners while remaining valid for others covered by the same notification.