VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday stayed the order of the AP State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) awarding `10 lakh to a person for the delay in paying compensation pertaining to acquisition of his land.
The case pertains to a draft notification issued by the government in 1993 to acquire land for rejuvenating the Veerapuram tank in Nandyal. Later, the notification was withdrawn as the said land was not patta land. However, some persons approached the court seeking payment of compensation. The court dismissed the petition stating there was no need to pay compensation as the said land was not a patta land. Meanwhile, some more individuals approached the court in 2013 and the petitions are still pending before it.
One of the petitioners, MJS Raju in 2021 approached the SHRC stating that officials were harassing him by not paying the compensation. The SHRC asked the Water Resources Department to pay `10 lakh compensation to the petitioner on May 5 this year. Principal Secretary (Water Resources) challenged the SHRC’s order in the High Court and the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday.
Government Special Pleader S Sivakumari informed the court that the land acquisition and compensation do not come under the purview of the commission. Further, the commission cannot intervene in a matter, which is pending before the High Court, she said.The bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu questioned the commission as to how it could intervene in matters concerning land acquisition and compensation and stayed its orders.