The Telangana High Court has quashed the acquisition of 92.39 acres in Tellapur for a proposed township, finding serious procedural and substantive irregularities in proceedings initiated in 2006. The court has, however, allowed authorities to begin fresh acquisition proceedings in accordance with the law.
Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy allowed a batch of six writ petitions filed by the Tellapur ‘G’ Block Plot Owners’ Association and five other private persons. The petitions challenged the acquisition initiated by the then district collector of Medak and a subsequent declaration issued in 2007 under the Land Acquisition Act.
The petitioners were purchasers of plots in Block ‘G’ of a layout developed by the Industrial Employees Co-operative House Building Society. The society had acquired a larger tract, secured layout approval in 1976 and allotted plots to members through registered sale deeds.
The petitioners told the court that Block ‘G’, which contains 594 plots, comprised patta land and had previously been excluded from a proposed acquisition after a government decision in 1989. They also said that the layout regularisation process had remained pending, preventing plot owners from obtaining building permissions for their properties.
The court found that the acquisition notification issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act did not state the purpose of the acquisition with the required clarity. It also held that the inquiry under Section 5-A, which gives landowners an opportunity to object, had been reduced to an empty formality.
According to the judgment as reported, the objections were rejected without adequate reasons or proper application of mind. The court also observed that the authorities had not established compliance with Section 18 of the Andhra Pradesh Urban Areas (Development) Act, 1975. That provision required the government to form an opinion that the land was required for development.
The court consequently quashed the acquisition notification dated February 22, 2006, and the declaration dated February 3, 2007, insofar as they covered the petitioners’ lands. The order does not permanently prevent the authorities from pursuing the land for development. Instead, it permits a fresh process, provided it complies with the applicable legal and procedural requirements.
The ruling places the status of the affected plots and any future development process back before the authorities. For the 594-plot Block ‘G’ layout, the immediate legal outcome is the removal of the challenged acquisition proceedings, while the pending regularisation issue and building permissions remain significant matters for the plot owners and the concerned agencies. The next step available to the authorities is to decide whether to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings under the law.
