HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has quashed land acquisition proceedings covering 92.39 acres in Tellapur village, Medak district, holding that the acquisition notification was vague, the Section 5-A inquiry was reduced to an empty formality and the mandatory requirement under Section 18 of the Andhra Pradesh Urban Areas (Development) Act, 1975 had not been complied with.
Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy allowed a batch of six writ petitions challenging the notification issued on February 22, 2006 under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and the consequential declaration issued under Section 6 on February 3, 2007. The lands in Survey Nos 333, 334, 335, 341, 342, 343, 363, 364 and 368 were proposed to be acquired for formation of a township.
The court noted that the very same acquisition had already been quashed in February, concerning part of the same extent. It held that the respondents failed to establish any basis for taking a different view in respect of the remaining landowners.
The court found the expression “development of township and future projects” insufficiently specific to enable landowners to effectively exercise their statutory right to object under Section 5-A. It also held that the inquiry did not disclose meaningful consideration of the objections, including the history of the land, its conversion and earlier deletion from acquisition.
The court further observed that under Section 18 of the 1975 Act, the government itself was required to form an opinion that the land was needed for development. No government order or file recording such formation of opinion was produced.
Rejecting the plea of delay, the court noted that the petitioners had approached it promptly and interim orders had remained in force since 2007.
The six writ petitions were accordingly allowed, with liberty to the respondents to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings strictly in accordance with law.
