HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Shravan Kumar, has sought the response of the State government to a petition filed by the Telangana Republican Party (TRP) challenging an amendment made through Act No. 12 of 2018 to the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977.
The amendment in question extended the cut-off date for the reassignment of assigned lands to third parties from January 29, 2007, as originally stipulated under Section 4(1)(b) of the Act, to December 31, 2017.
The TRP contends that this is a violation of the principles of natural justice and the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977. The core issue revolves around the reassignment of assigned lands to eligible third parties who purchased them on or before December 31, 2017, effectively transferring ownership to the purchasers. In its petition, the TRP, represented by its general secretary Andugula Anand, urged the court to overturn the amendment.
According to counsel for the petitioner, previous governments had allocated small portions of wastelands and assigned lands to landless citizens starting from November 1969. This allocation was intended to provide them with opportunities to earn a livelihood through farming or related activities. However, due to factors such as illiteracy, lack of awareness, and economic disadvantages, the original allottees were unable to derive the intended benefits from these lands. Over time, they sold these lands to influential and financially well-off individuals at significantly lower prices, sometimes as low as Rs 5 lakh for land valued between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
The petitioner requested the court to issue a directive to reassign the assigned lands to their original allottees by reclaiming them from the purchasers. It’s worth noting that Section 3 of the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977, explicitly prohibits the transfer of assigned lands. Despite this legal provision, the Telangana Government introduced Amendment Act No. 12 of 2018, sparking the present legal challenge.
During the process of updating land records, it was discovered that nearly two lakh acres of assigned lands in Telangana had been transferred to third parties, who now hold possession of these lands. Of this total, 74,000 acres of assigned land are located in the erstwhile Rangareddy district. After perusing the petitioner’s contentions the matter was adjourned for four weeks.