Give suitable land in compensation to villager: Hyderabad High Court

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has come to the rescue of a family that gave up its land 16 years ago to provide a drinking water facility for the people of Kuppam Panchayat in the constituency of AP's Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

It has directed the authorities to pay compensation to the family under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao was allowing a petition by V. Munirajulu, a resident of Kuppam village, challenging the action of the authorities in taking over his land of 0.45 cents, located in Chinna Kurabalapalli village of Kuppam mandal of Chittoor district, without following the due process of law as illegal and arbitrary.

According to the petitioner, the authorities, including the district collector, requested him and his mother at a meeting held in the village in 2000 to give their land for establishing a Water Filter Point to provide drinking water for the people of Kuppam by assuring them that 2 acres of government land would be provided to them in lieu of their 0.45 cents.

The collector directed the authorities during the meeting to provide the 2 acres of land near Model Colony, Kuppam.

According to the petitioner, he and his mother went to the district collector several times and requested that the land due to them be provided, but no allotment was made, whereupon he moved the court.

The tahsildar of Kuppam mandal informed the court that the petitioner’s land was taken in 2000 upon the assurance that alternative agricultural land would be provided to him.

The petitioner had turned down the land offered to him at Kangundi village, 24 km away from Kuppam, as it was in the middle of a thick forest, barren and uncultivable.

The judge, while allowing the case, said that the petitioner could not be compelled to accept the said land and there was no alternative but to direct the collector and tahsildar to initiate proceedings for acquisition of land under the Act 2013 and pay compensation within four months.