Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court directed land acquisition authorities of the Kaleshwaram project not to dispossess landowners and farmers of agricultural lands situated in Ananthagiri village, Ellanthakunta mandal, Rajanna Sircilla district of their lands until their rehabilitation and resettlement issues are finalised and the compensation amount is paid to landowners, particularly those who had approached the court.
Justice Surepalli Nanda resolved the pending issue since 2018 where landowners and farmers whose land had been acquired for construction of Ananthagiri reservoir under the Kaleshwaram Project package approached the High Court that they were forced to give away their lands, without getting any benefits of the land acquisition Act 2013.
The government had issued two preliminary notifications in 2017 for acquiring an extent of Ac. 69.221/2 gts and Ac. 257.37 gts, for the project. Pursuant to the issuance of the notifications, some of the petitioners had filed preliminary objections. The authorities did not follow any mandatory procedures stipulated under Section 11(2), 11(5), 15 (2), 16, 17 and 18 of the Act 30 of 2013. Even the Collector did not revise and update the market value of the lands before the issuance of notification under Section 11(1) and without following any mandatory procedures the impugned notifications were issued. The authorities also did not give the option of R&R settlement to land owners. Challenging the same, land owners approached the High Court in 2018.
