HYDERABAD: In a big relief to petitioners of Kancheru village, Hyderabad High Court has recently directed the State government to pay `28 lakh per acre compensation within six weeks to each of the petitioners, whose lands in Kancheru village were acquired for the Bhogapuram International Airport.
The high court made it clear to the government that the acquired land should not be used for the airport project till the compensation was paid.
Justice MS Ramachandra Rao passed the order after hearing a petition filed by K Appalanarasayya and 90 others from Kancheru village. He said the action of the authorities in paying them `12.5 lakh as compensation for acquiring their lands was illegal and arbitrary since it violated Act 30 of Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and GO 259 dated June 21, 2016.
After perusing the material on record, Justice Ramachandra Rao directed the authorities to pay `28 lakh per acre to each of the petitioners within six weeks. While allowing the petition, the judge imposed costs of `1,000 on the respondent authorities to be paid to each of the petitioners.
On Aug 31, 2015, the Vizianagaram District Collector issued a preliminary notification under the Act to construct the airport at Bhogapuram in Viziangaram district by acquiring about 5,311 acres. In the said notification, the lands of the petitioners were also notified. Later a final notification was issued to acquire 2,004 acres, including the lands assigned to the petitioners. The petitioners’ counsel said it was a settled law that for the acquired land, the government should pay compensation equivalent to the market value of the land and other benefits as were payable to the landowners. However, the authorities fixed the compensation payable to them at a much lower rate.
Besides, the authorities played fraud on them by obtaining consent forms by misrepresentation and denied them their legally entitled compensation, he noted.On the other hand, the government counsel said the petitioners have accepted the same voluntarily on signed statements or affixed thumb impressions stating `12.5 lakh was adequate and they would not seek any further reference to any authority, and the amount was credited to their bank accounts.