The Telangana High Court has upheld the state government’s decision to cancel the oil palm factory zone allotted to Patanjali Foods Limited in Suryapet district, holding that the company failed to fulfil its contractual obligations. A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin dismissed the company’s writ appeal against a single judge’s order upholding the cancellation. The factory zones in erstwhile Nalgonda and Suryapet districts were allotted to Patanjali Foods, formerly Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, in 2012 for oil palm cultivation and processing. The agreement required the company to commence a processing mill within 24 months. As the company failed to meet the condition, the government cancelled the zone on March 15 last year and allotted it to Telangana Oilfed. Patanjali Foods argued that although the mill was delayed, it was purchasing fruit bunches from farmers and transporting them to a nearby processing unit.
Fresh hearing on fishers society memberships ordered
The Telangana High Court has set aside a single judge’s order on membership applications in fishermen cooperative societies and directed that the affected societies be heard before fresh orders are passed. A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin passed the order on appeals filed by fishermen cooperative societies from Vandanam and Konijerla villages of Khammam district. The dispute arose after the assistant director of Fisheries rejected membership applications from more than 120 persons, holding that their castes did not fall within the social categories for membership of fishermen cooperative societies. The applicants challenged the decision and the single judge subsequently quashed it. Appearing for the societies, advocate DL Pandu argued that they were directly affected parties but had not been given an opportunity to be heard. The bench held that the affected societies should have been heard. It directed the single judge to reconsider the matter after hearing all concerned parties.