HYDERABAD: Expressing displeasure with the revenue authorities for their failure to disclose records pertaining to prime government lands at Kapparada and Marripalem villages in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh in spite of a direction issued by the Information Commission, the HC has recently directed the revenue authorities concerned to furnish the information sought by the petitioner with regard to the above lands under the Right to Information Act, and granted four weeks’ time for the purpose.
Justice A Ramalingeswara Rao passed this order on a petition filed by P Lakshminarayana, an advocate, complaining that the authorities were not disclosing the records and not even responding to the orders of the Information Commission on the said lands with an intention to benefit private parties. The petitioner’s counsel alleged that the valuable government lands worth crores of rupees were snatched away, allotted and mortgaged, and revenue officials colluded with the land-grabbers.
In fact, the subject lands located in survey no.s 57/3, 4, 5, 58, 59/1, 2, 3, 66/1, 2, 3, 4, 58/1, 41/1, 2 figured in the government’s prohibited list but the district collector removed them from the list without proper reason. Some of the lands were allotted to Lakshmi Techno Solutions Private Ltd. When information was sought from the local revenue officers regarding entries in land records, the revenue authorities have stonewalled the applications under RTI Act. While expressing displeasure with the attitude of the officers concerned, the judge directed the revenue authorities to part with the information to the petitioner within four weeks.