Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court directed the state government to file a counter affidavit on a writ that challenged the acquisition of private land for the construction of a helipad beside the house of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Karimnagar.
The order was given by Justice Challa Kodanda Ram who was hearing the petition of Mr Pulgari Prathima and four others who challenged the land acquisition notification issued for the purpose of construction of the helipad on five acres and 18 guntas of land that they owned.
The judge asked why the government had taken the decision to acquire this land for the helipad and why not some other parcel of land. The judge directed the government to submit the details within four weeks.
Mr V. Raghunath, counsel for the petitioners, said the notice under Section 21 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition and Resettlement Act, 2013 was issued in such a manner that their land was sought to be acquired for the construction of a helipad to facilitate Mr Rao’s movement in the district and the notification did not show ‘public purpose’ which is the main criteria for acquistion of private land.
Counsel informed the court that the helipad was to be constructed near the plot owned by Mr Rao. He said that Mr Rao may not be the Chief Minister after some time; then the helipad would become useless. “The Karimnagar district collectorate has 20 acres of land and there are already two helipads which can be used by the Chief Minister rather than going for construction of a new one,” Mr Raghunath said.
Mr Sanjeev Kumar, special counsel for the state government, informed the court that the two helipads were declared as abandoned by the aviation department.
As per the proposal mooted by the Ramagundam commissioner of police, the five acre parcel of land was found suitable from the security point of view as Mr Rao is in the Z+ category and faces a threat from extremists.
He said the helipad can be used by all VIPs visiting Karimnagar district and was not only meant for Mr Rao.
He informed the court that the petitioners did not respond when the notification under Sections 11(1) and 15(1) were issued but had come up with the petition only on the aspect of payment of compensation. After hearing both parties, Justice Kodanda Ram directed the state government to submit a detailed counter affidavit within four weeks.
