Widows and Widowers Entitled for R&R Package as a Separate Family, Rules HC

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court directed the state government to consider the claims of widows and widowers of being treated as a separate family for getting the benefits of rehabilitation and resettlement package policy under Section 3 (M) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar stated that the government cannot deny them benefits on the grounds that the benefits were extended to the head of the family or its son.

The judge was dealing with a batch of petitions filed by some project displaced persons from Vemulaghat, Etigadda Kistapur villages of Thoguta mandal in Siddipet district. The petitioners were evicted in the name of land acquisition for construction of reservoirs pertaining to the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

However, they were denied compensation and R&R package benefits, and the government maintained that their family members had been suitably compensated.

Aggrieved by the same, they approached the High Court stating that they were widows and widowers who were not receiving any compensation.

Special government pleader A. Sanjeev Kumar contended that all the petitioners had opted for and consented to payment of compensation and R&R benefits in terms of GO Ms. 120, revenue department officials had paid compensation and other benefits to the family members of the petitioners, who, in a late move, were urging the court to be treated as a separate family.

Justice Sudheer Kumar directed the government to pay the petitioners R&R package benefits separately.