HYDERABAD: The division bench of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Telangana government, seeking its stand in allocating for free 3.7 acres in Raidurg to the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC).
The bench of Justice K. Lakshman and Justice K. Sujana issued notices to the Chief Secretary, state legal affairs and justice secretary, law department, revenue secretary, and the IAMC, directing them to file their contentions by November 21 on the land allocation, as well as financial assistance to the non-governmental IAMC Trust.
The petitioner in the case, advocate Koti Raghunatha Rao, filed a PIL challenging four GOs — no. 126 on December 26, 2021, no. 76 on November 12, 2021, no. 365 on July 16, 2022, and no.6 on March 17, 2022 — issued by the Telangana government for respectively facilitating the IAMC, allocating government land, providing financial assistance from the public exchequer and making the IAMC the arbitration forum for all government departments, public sector and other entities under the Telangana state government.
Raghunatha Rao, arguing as the party in person, informed the court that the state cannot allot land for free to a private entity. The counsel further argued that if the IAMC was to be established, then it had to purchase land by paying the cost, as the Supreme Court in its various judgments said that states cannot allot lands to private organisations for free.
The petitioner sought a stay on GO 126, allotting 3.7 acres and requested the court to issue directions to recover the money already disbursed to the IAMC from the public exchequer.
