TELANGANA: The High Court of Telangana on Tuesday asked the State government, HMDA and the revenue department to file their response to scores of petitions that were seeking allotment of evacuee land situated at Puppalaguda area near Hitec City in Hyderabad.
The HC gave three weeks time to file their counters and directed State Counsel Harender Pershad to ensure that counters are filed by March 14. The properties left by the people who migrated to Pakistan from India during Partition are called evacuee properties.
These properties are allotted to people who migrated from Pakistan to India. To administer these lands, the Central Government had brought in Evacuee Property Act, and a custodian was appointed in Bombay in 1954. According to officials, about 900 acres of land was deemed as evacuee land at Puppalaguda and Gandipet Mandal, which are identified as the property of Fakir Yar Jung who had migrated to Pakistan.
The custodian allotted as many as 700 acres from this to various individuals who came to Hyderabad from Pakistan. Later in 1980, as there were no more claims, the central government transferred this land to the State government. Now about 200 acres of land is available with the state. The current value of this leftover land is more than Rs 10,000 crore.
HC orders status quo on ED appeal against finance firm
The High Court of Telangana on Monday ordered status quo in an appeal filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) against an earlier order issued by the single-judge bench in a writ petition filed by PC Financial Services Private Limited, which is behind the mobile loan app companies.
During the course of the investigation, the ED froze the bank accounts of the company. PC Financial Services Private Limited filed a writ petition seeking the release of some amounts to pay salaries to the staff. The single-judge bench had directed the ED to release an amount of Rs 15,35,45,317 within a week and further directed the petitioner to furnish the details of utilization.
Subsequently, the ED challenged the order before a division bench. The ED contended that the firm’s foreign parent companies made foreign outward remittances worth Rs 429.29 crore in the name of payments for non-existent software services.
NGT roadblock for new Secretariat building
In a setback to the Telangana government’s ambitious new Secretariat project, the National Green Tribunal has warned the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that a fine of Rs 10,000 will be levied on the official responsible if he or she fails to file a counter to a petition filed against the construction of the administrative complex.
Pointing out that it had already caused a delay of two years, an NGT bench, headed by Justice K Ramakrishna, directed the Centre on Tuesday to file a statement on the issue by March 15.
The case currently being heard in NGT is on the legal aspect of how the MOEF&CC did not issue an environmental clearance (EC) on the demolition of the old Secretariat by taking a stand that another case on the same issue being heard in the Telangana High Court and the EC was not needed for demolitions.
PUBG & BGMI games not same, IT Ministry tells HC
The Centre on Tuesday told the Telangana High Court that it has received no request to block either the computer or the mobile versions of ‘Battle Grounds Mobile India (BGMI)’. In a detailed affidavit, N. Samaya Balan representing the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that ‘PUBG Mobile app’ and ‘BGMI app’ are not one and the same and only the government can block computer resources.
Balan was responding to a PIL by one Anil Stevenson from Jangam, seeking a permanent ban on BGMI in India. Stevenson had also urged the court to issue a Writ of Mandamus and directions to the Union and Telangana governments to establish an online games safety rating agency and to frame rules to regulate online games in order to screen them and thus prevent adverse impact on social health.
In the affidavit, Balan told the court that PUBG was blocked after following the due process while BGMI was launched on July 2, 2021.