HYDERABAD: The High Court of Telangana, hearing a petition seeking omission of a parcel of land in a village from the purview of GO 111, held that the government was adopting double standards, saying it was opposing the current petition, but it had overlooked the same fact when it auctioned lands in Kokapet.The court also asked the government to show the record if it had carried out any developments in the area, like creation of plots, laying of roads and so on, before it auctioned the land in Kokapet.
S Niranjan Reddy, senior counsel appearing for the HMDA, informed the bench that the lands which were auctioned in Kokapet were 700 metres away from the FTL of Osman Sagar lake. The government has already sanctioned `350 crore for the purpose of constructing sewerage lines in Kokapet lands and informed the Court that an undertaking would be given by the HMDA that the facilities would be created and the HMDA will not accord further permission to build high-rises till they create the facilities.
The Chief Justice then inquired with the HMDA counsel as to how much money had been generated by auctioning of lands in Kokapet, to which Niranjan Reddy replied that `700 crore out of the `2,000 crore had been received as EMD. She made it clear that if such facilities were not created, then the Court would not permit any constructions. “We will not permit constructions even on an inch of the land,” the Chief Justice said, and added that it would direct the HMDA to deposit the `700 crore in a separate account till such information was furnished.
The petitioner’s senior counsel K Vivek Reddy urged the bench to implement the rules applied in Kokapet lands to Vattinagualapalli village lands too, and exempt them from the purview of GO No: 111. Additional advocate general J Ramachander Rao informed the court that due to NGT orders, the government did not take any decision. At this stage, the Chief Justice commented that the government was scoring a self-goal. The court then adjourned the case to August 23.