Mallanna Sagar reservoir: Siddipet collector gets five days to respond

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday gave one last chance to Siddipet district collector to furnish all documents like communication between the director of government printing press and the collector’s office regarding notification of land acquisition for a piece of land for the Mallanna Sagar reservoir.

The court made it clear that on the failure of the collector to oblige, the court shall be constrained to pass orders directing the district collector’s personal appearance.

The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Sharavan Kumar, was dealing with an appeal, which complained that the authorities had played fraud in acquiring 102 acres in Sy.No.326 and 331 at Mutrajpally village, Gajwel mandal in Siddipet district for the construction of R & R colony for the project displaced families of eight villages submerged by the Mallanna Sagar reservoir.

The appellants’ counsel Gowraram Rajashekar Reddy and Senior counsel Rachana Reddy argued that the authorities have issued fabricated preliminary notification and without informing the land owners, it had completed the land acquisition proceedings.

In the context, at a previous hearing the court had directed the district collector of Siddipet to submit the letter written by his office to the director of govt. printing press for publication of the extension for preliminary notification i.e. Gazette No.41, dated 28.01.2023. But, the collector failed to furnish the relevant documents and the government counsel was unable to explain the reasons for the same.

Taking a serious note of this discrepancy, the court gave a last chance to explain the reasons by September 19 or face the consequences.