Hyderabad High Court notice to Ganta Srinivasa Rao over sale of land
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Higher education minister of Andhra Pradesh, and to the directors of Pratyusha Estates Pvt. Ltd and Pratyusha Global Trade Pvt. Ltd and also officers of Indian Bank, for allegedly mortgaging government land for availing of a Rs 114 crore loan.
The court also issued notices to the Visakhapatnam city police Commissioner, district collector, and secretaries of revenue and home departments of AP directing them to file their counter-affidavits.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akhter was hearing a public interest litigation by S. Ajay Babu, a resident of Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam district.
T. Lakshminarayana, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the directors of the two Pratyusha firms mortgaged government land at Vemulavalasa in Visakhapatnam and availed a Rs 141 crore loan. The minister stood as guarantor to the loan. Documents were submitted in court to prove that the land which was mortgaged is government land.
The counsel said that as the company failed to repay the loan, Indian Bank issued notices to the firm and the guarantors and when there was no response from them, the bank recently issued a notification to auction the said land.
