N. NISHANTH REDDY Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants before this Court have filed the present writ appeal being aggrieved by an order dtd. 29/4/2021 passed in W.P.No.2935 of 2021, by which the writ petition preferred by the appellants/writ petitioners challenging the land acquisition proceedings under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short, the Land Acquisition Act, 2013) has been dismissed.

(2.) The undisputed facts of the case reveal that the appellant No.1/petitioner No.1 is the owner of land to an extent of Acs.0.20 guntas in survey No.228/AA and the appellant No.2/petitioner No.2 is the owner of the land to an extent of Acs.0.20 guntas in survey No.228/AA/1/6 situated at Kardanoor Village, Patancheru Mandal, Medak District. The writ petition was filed being aggrieved by the land acquisition proceedings for acquisition of land admeasuring Acs.8.05 guntas in various survey numbers of Kardanoor Village, land admeasuring Acs.12.05 guntas in Isnapur Village as well as land admeasuring Acs.20.06 guntas in Muttangi Village. A Notification was issued on 13/11/2019 under Sec. 11(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and both the appellants/writ petitioners are not the owners of the entire land, as stated in the writ petition they are the owners of small extents of lands, which is the subject matter of the land acquisition proceedings. The respondents have initiated acquisition proceedings in order to construct 'Four Lane Carriageway from IDA Pashamailaram Industrial Park to Outer Ring Road from Km 0/0 to 4/5 in Sangareddy District ' keeping in view the traffic jams and to ease the industrial traffic as traffic jams are occurring at regular intervals enrouting Isnapur to Pashamailaram Industrial area. The Government of Telangana, vide G.O.Rt.No.05, dtd. 4/1/2018 has accorded administrative sanction for the work of 'Construction of Four Lane Carriageway from IDA Pashamailaram Industrial Park to Outer Ring Road '. After careful examination of all the available alternatives and keeping in view the study carried by technical experts as well as keeping in view the recommendations of the Engineer-In-Chief (R&B), State Roads and CRN, Hyderabad, the alignment was made by the shortest route to ensure that the alignment is in a straight line. The alignment was approved and thereafter, requisition proposal was forwarded to the District Collector, Sangareddy to initiate the land acquisition process to acquire the land totalling to an extent of Acs.40.16 guntas in Medak District.

(3.) The State Government after careful examination of the matter and taking into account all relevant facts has issued G.O.Ms.No.18, dtd. 13/8/2019 exempting the Project from the provisions of Chapter II and III of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. Accordingly, as per the Survey Report, sub-division records and exempted G.O., the Notification in Form C (under Sec. 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, where 10A exemption is given) was issued by the Collector, Sangareddy vide File No.62/2419/2018, dtd. 18/11/2019 for the land under acquisition to an extent of Acs.40.16 guntas in Kardanoor, Isnapur and Muttangi Villages of Patancheru Mandal, Medcak District for construction of Four Lane Road. The undisputed facts make it very clear, as reflected from the record, that the appellant No.1/petitioner No.1 is the pattadar of the land admeasuring Acs.0.20 guntas in survey No.228/AA and the appellant No.2/petitioner No.2 is the pattadar of the land admeasuring Acs.0.20 guntas in survey No.228/AA/1/16 situated at Kardanoor Village, Patancheru Mandal, Medak District. Out of the total land of the appellant No.1/petitioner No.1, land to an extent of Acs.0.15 1/2 guntas and in respect of the appellant No.2/petitioner No.2, land to an extent of Acs.0.15 1/2 guntas only fall under the Notification. The Notification dtd. 13/11/2019 was published in newspapers on 24/11/2019 and the appellants/petitioners submitted their objections on 24/1/2020, i.e., on 62nd day of publication of notice to the respondent No.6/Executive Engineer, Roads and Buildings (Retail Division), Hyderabad and not to the District Collector. The appellants/ petitioners thereafter submitted their objections to the District Collector on 30/1/2020. The objections submitted by the appellants/petitioners were considered and well reasoned order was passed on 19/6/2020 taking into account all the objections raised by the appellants/ petitioners. The appellants/petitioners came up with a case before the learned Single Judge that the provisions of Land Acquisition Act, 2013 have not been complied with, no survey as mandated under Sec. 12 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 was conducted, their objections have been rejected by passing a non-speaking order under Sec. 15(3) of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and without assigning any reason the exemption has been granted by the State Government in the matter under Sec. 10A of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. The learned Single Judge after taking into account the grounds raised by the appellants/petitioners and the reply filed by the respondents has dismissed the writ petition and being aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the present writ appeal has been filed.