Cheap land allotment for BRS-sponsored institute challenged in HC

HYDERABAD: A non-profit body on Monday challenged, through a PIL in the Telangana High Court, the allotment of a land parcel worth over Rs 500 crore, as per the market value, to the BRS-sponsored Institute of Excellence and Human Resources Development, for less than Rs 35 crore.

The land is situated on Survey No.s 239 and 240 of Kokapet, where the HMDA recently sold land parcels at Rs 50 crore per acre in a public auction, petitioner Forum for Good Governance (FGG) pointed out.

The petitioner alleged that allotment of land to the institute was done “at haste, in a hush-hush manner” as evidenced by the government not putting out the orders in the public domain.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao recently held a ‘Bhumi puja’ for the institute.

FGG secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy said BRS had been attempting to grab prime lands to conduct political activities, under the garb of the institute. “With great difficulty, the organisation obtained a confidential memo, which clearly established that the entire process — of BRS making an application for the land, to the Chief Minister directed the officials to place before the Cabinet for approval — was completed in five days.

The petitioner alleged misuse of authority by the ruling party.