HYDERABAD: Telangana High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the auction of lands in Kokapet and Khanamet scheduled for Thursday. The court pronounced its verdict on a PIL petition filed by BJP leader Vijayashanthi, seeking scrapping of GO 13 which facilitates auction of 44.9 acres of land in Kokapet and 14.9 acres in Khanamet.
The government submitted to the bench that it had decided to auction the lands primarily for two reasons — to augment the State’s revenues and because they were facing difficulty in protecting the lands from encroachers. The bench expressed surprise over the government admitting its inability to protect its own lands, but did not stay the auction. It said it would hear arguments on the proposal to build a land bank of 1,000 acres.