HYDERABAD: Justice M. Sudheer Kumar of Telangana High Court set aside the declarations and subsequent proceedings including awards and deposit of compensation in a land acquisition case pertaining to Pharma City, Ibrahimpatnam. The villagers of Medipally and Kurmidha had filed writ petition stating that the acquisition of their land was in violation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The court on Friday expressed anguish as to why officials were not able to understand the basic procedure of land acquisition in spite of the principal secretary circulating a memo in 2017 detailing the procedure. The court opined that instead of realising their mistake the authorities contested the case and deliberately acted to frustrate the proceedings. In the process three years were lost and the construction of Pharma city was stalled. The court set aside the declaration and directed the respondents to start from the point of considering the objection under Section 15 of the Act within three months. The court directed the petitioner to cooperate by submitting their objections within two weeks. The court ordered that the revision of market value must be done and the date of judgment has to be considered as the criteria for payment of compensation instead of the date of preliminary notification.
Writ on labour exploitation against Leo Meridian
Justice C.V. Bhasker Reddy of Telangana High Court asked the authorities to file a counter in a case of labour exploitation by the management of Leonia Holistic Destination on September 28. The petition was filed by Leo Meridian Employees Society; its counsel said the company was declared a non-performing asset in 2012. The insolvency process was initiated by the National Company Law Tribunal, Hyderabad, and G. Krishna Mohan, was appointed resolution professional in October 2022. Since his appointment, he had been forcing employees to work for more than 14 hours without extra pay and exposing them to an unhygienic environment and exploitation. They contended they requested the labour department to conduct an inquiry as per the Shops and Establishment Act but in vain.
TSLSC submits a report on Saroornagar Junior College
A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court took on record a status report filed by the TS Legal Services Authority (TSLSA) regarding the facilities at the Government Junior College, Saroornagar. The bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumari was hearing a taken-up PIL based on a letter written by Nallapu Manideep, LLB student. The letter said there was one toilet for over 700 girl students; students were catching infection on using it. The school had only a half-an-hour break Manideep said and asked how all the girls could use it within that time. Girls had stopped going to college during the menstrual cycle, some were using tablets to stop menstruation cycles. Male students were resorting to open urination due to the lack of a functional toilet. Some students were not even drinking water. He stated that their complaints for the last three months were ignored. The students had complained to the State Human Rights Commission which replied that it had no members. The matter was listed to August 9.
State seeks more time on Disaster Management Report
Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar directed the state government to apprise the court regarding rain-related deaths in Jayashankar Bhupalpalli district. The government which was required to submit its report on Friday sought time till Monday. Counsel Chikudu Prabhaker said the matter could not brook any delay. Earlier, the court had observed that there no mention in the government report about restoration of essential services and the search operations to locate missing individuals. A PIL was sought by Cheruku Sudhakar regarding the inaction of the state government in the implementation of the National Disaster Management Minimum Standard Relief.
Writ against Varun Motors: notice to GHMC
Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar directed the GHMC to consider allegations against Varun Motors for housing and running its premises in Banjara Hills and file its response by August 17. The judge was dealing with a writ petition filed by RC Finance Limited, claiming to be the original owner of the premises, which said that when Varun Motors proceeded with illegal construction without obtaining building permission, the petitioner made a complaint to the GHMC. When the GHMC proceeded to act, Varun Motors filed a writ petition and, under the guise of an interim order, proceeded with the construction. He complained that Varun Motors was in use and occupation of the premises without an occupancy certificate.
