Telangana Government Unable to Pay Rs 40,000 Crore in Land Compensation, Tells High Court
The Telangana government has informed the High Court that it is currently unable to pay land acquisition compensation amounting to nearly Rs 40,000 crore, despite having issued tokens to the affected landowners.
Hyderabad: The Telangana government has informed the High Court that it is currently unable to pay land acquisition compensation amounting to nearly Rs 40,000 crore, despite having issued tokens to the affected landowners.
Finance Department Principal Secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania made the submission during a virtual hearing before the High Court on Wednesday.
Several landowners whose properties were acquired for various government projects across Telangana had approached the High Court, alleging that they had not received compensation despite the acquisition of their lands.
Taking serious note of the delay in payments, the judge had directed Sultania to appear personally before the court and explain why compensation had not been released despite earlier court orders.
Appearing virtually for the hearing, Sultania informed the court that tokens worth Rs 40,000 crore had been issued towards land compensation, but the government was not currently in a position to make the payments.
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He further submitted that it could take at least six months to clear the pending dues, attributing the delay to the government’s financial inability.
After hearing the submissions, the High Court directed the government to release at least Rs 51 crore in pending compensation cases before it within 12 weeks.
The court also instructed the Finance Department Principal Secretary to file an affidavit clearly specifying the compensation amount payable to each affected landowner.
The developments have brought the issue of delayed land acquisition compensation and the state’s financial position under renewed judicial scrutiny.
