HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Revenue) and the Chief Commissioner of Land Acquisition, directing them to respond in a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of the new Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2021.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A Rajasekhar Reddy passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by former Deputy Chief Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha, which also seeks a direction to constitute an independent body to report on the practical issues faced by the public due to the new enactment.
Vani, counsel for the petitioner, informed the bench that farmers in the State were facing numerous issues under the new enactment. Though there are many Sections under the new enactment, viz., Section 5 providing procedure for effecting changes in the record and Section 7 providing provision when the right over the land is acquired through court decree, but, there is no provision provided to challenge the changes made by the Tahsildar in the record of the rights, said the petitioner.
After hearing the petitioner’s counsel, the Division Bench questioned the Government Pleader (Revenue) as to why the State had come up with an enactment which was causing hardships to farmers in the State, and issued notices to file its response to the contentions raised by the petitioner within six weeks.
Petitioner is ex-DyCM
Former Deputy Chief Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha has filed the PIL, which seeks to constitute an independent body to report on the issues faced due to the new Act