Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation against the allotment of land to film director N. Shankar, paving way for him to build his TV and film studio.
Though the court made an observation that it would be better to have a specific policy for allotment of land to eminent personalities, it was of the view that there was no allegation of malafide or favouritism or nepotism on the part of the state government in allotting the land to Shankar.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan made a note of Shankar paying Rs 25 lakh for five acres and spending another Rs 1.25 crore to develop it. The director gave a road map for the development of the TV and film studio.
“This court takes note of the fact that several states of our country, the governments have conferred or extended various benefits and facilities to eminent sports personalities, artists etc., and the State of Telangana is no exception,” it said.
The bench also observed that the question of holding public auction or tender would not arise as the land was allotted to the director for a consideration and a larger objective. This court could not come to any conclusion that such an allotment was so destructive to intervene and set the clock in allotment of the land, it said.
