HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan posted the two contempt appeals (CA) filed by D Vijayender Reddy, Gajwel Division RDO, and B Prabhulu, Kondapaka Mandal Tahsildar, to November 1, 2021.
According to petitioners’ counsel B Rachana Reddy, the farmers, Narayan Reddy and Raji Reddy, own lands in Thipparam village, Siddipet, which was acquired for Mallannasagar Project. The petitioners were forced to file the writ petitions questioning the award as the compensation was abysmal and no provisions for rehabilitation was provided. According to Land Acquisition Act, unless compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, if applicable, are paid no land evacuee can be dispossessed.
The State government has been constructing the Mallannasagar bund and this land comes under the bund portion, so they were dispossessed. Initially Justice MS Ramachander Rao had granted stay of dispossession as the Act was not complied with and rehabilitation cost was neither calculated nor paid.
Despite the court orders, the TS government staffers dug up the lands and created major disturbance by removing structures on the land. The govt staffers told the petitioners that an ‘endorsement’ was passed unilaterally and it was decided that petitioners need not be compensated. Petitioners were forced to file a contempt case after the incident.
Justice Rao once again passed interim orders, tersely directing officials to not touch the subject lands and not to dispossess anyone. He granted the officials several chances to file a counter. After several hearings, he sentenced the RDO and MRO to civil prison for deliberate violation of his orders. He specifically stated that a unilateral decision by the government, based on a self-effacing ‘endorsement’ cannot be taken without filing a vacate petition and seeking to vacate the stay by the single judge, who passed the interim orders.
Unfortunately, now the petitioners are now without any compensation or rehabilitation and dispossessed from their lands as the Land Authority is without a presiding officer for the last six months or so. This point was brought to the notice of the Chief Justice and he posted the matter to November 1 for detailed hearing.