HC questions government policy on land allocation

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday asked the government whether or not it had a policy in place to allocate state land whenever anyone makes an appeal.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy asked the question while dealing with a batch of PILs and petitions, challenging GO 59 of 2018, through which the government had leased 15 acres of government land in Survey No. of 41 of Khanamet village of Serilingampally mandal for 33 years to Sai Sindhu Trust, managed by B. Parthasarathi Reddy, Chairman of Hetero Drugs.

It was informed that the trust would run a cancer hospital similar to the Basavatharakam Cancer Hospital and 25 per cent of beds would be given to the poor for free and 40 per cent of out-patients will be given free services, apart from implementing the Aarogyasri scheme.

Dr Urmila Pingle and K. Suresh Kumar filed petitions complaining that the lease amount was Rs 1.47 lakh per year and the concessions given by the government would cost the exchequer Rs 5,000 crore.

D. Prakash Reddy, senior counsel representing the petitioner, said that as per the rules 10 per cent of the market value of the land must be collected. The land is 'worth more than Rs 500 crore, and the lease amount should be Rs 50 crore; every five years the amount should be increased by assessing the market value.

Prakash Reddy also submitted that the trust had no experience in running a hospital and neither was Parthasarathi Reddy a doctor. He said the trust was registered in 2014 and had made representations to the government in 2015 and 2016 for allocation of the land which is 1 km away from Hitec City for 60-year lease. If the trust wanted to do public service, it could set up the cancer hospital in rural areas.

Advocate General B.S. Prasad submitted that the land was allocated on lease at concessional rates because the trust was a non-profit organisation and would serve the poor. Cancer is a looming threat and the expenses for its treatment may burden the poor, he said.

Questioning whether the government adopted any policy to allocate land, Chief  Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that serving the poor for free was laudable but how could the applicant point to a particular plot of land for allotment. Without  the trust having any experience in running a hospital, on what basis did the government allocate the land, the Chief Justice asked.

S. Niranjan Reddy, senior counsel and Rajya Sabha MP, said the trust was established by Parthasarathi Reddy in the name of her daughter who had died at the age of 34. Through the trust, he wanted to give back to society and he had arranged for huge amounts for infrastructure to facilitate the treatment of around 500  in-patients in the first phase.

If Rs 500 crore were to be spent to purchase land, it would be difficult for the trust to set up a world class  cancer treatment  facility, he said. The bench asked why the trust required that particular plot of land. Arguments were adjourned to March 31.