Telangana HC issues notices on PIL challenging land allotment to BRS

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday ordered notices to the state government and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging allotment of 11 acres of government land in a prime area of the city.

The High Court took up hearing on the petition seeking a direction to stay the allotment of government land at Kokapet coming under Rangareddy district, to the ruling party.

It ordered notices to both the state government and the ruling party to file their counter affidavits.

The court adjourned the hearing to August 16.

The Forum for Good Governance (FGG), a voluntary organisation, has challenged the land allotment to the BRS.

It maintained that while the market value of one acre of the alienated land was around Rs 50 crore, the government allotted it to BRS for only Rs 3.41 crore.

The FGG, represented by its secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy, pleaded for a direction to the BRS not to undertake any construction on the land allotted till adjudication of the matter.

The petitioner argued that the circular issued by the state government alienating 11 acres of prime land to BRS, required to be set aside and declared arbitrary.

It claimed that the government was handling the issue secretly as relevant orders were not uploaded onto the government website.

The NGO stated that it could secure a copy of the circular pertaining to the alienation of land with difficulty.

According to the circular, the BRS approached the government with a proposal to establish an Institute for Excellence and Human Resource Development and sought land.

The political party claimed it would train public leaders and activists through the Centre. The FGG contended that there were excellent training centres like the Marri Chenna Reddy Institute of Human Resources Development, the National Institute of Rural Development and the State Institute of Rural Development in Hyderabad.

Against this backdrop, the BRS party’s request for allotment of prime land to develop a similar institute was not justified, the petitioner said BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on June 5 laid the foundation stone for Centre for Excellence and Human Resource Development on the allotted land.

He stated that the centre to be known as Bharat Bhavan will train party leaders.

The BRS chief said that experienced political scientists, economists, sociologists, writers, professors, retired officials and others, who contributed to the development of the society, will be invited from across the country to provide training in political, social and economic fields.

KCR said that the centre will have training classrooms, mini halls with projectors, spacious meeting halls, digital libraries with latest technology and luxury rooms for accommodation.

He also announced that the newspapers of the country and abroad, works and books of world intellectuals belonging to the world’s political, social and philosophical fields will be made available in the centre.