Hyderabad: In a significant relief to hundreds of plot owners in Tellapur, Telangana high court has quashed land acquisition proceedings initiated nearly two decades ago for a proposed township, holding that the acquisition was marred by both procedural and substantive illegality.Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy struck down the 2006 land acquisition notification and the 2007 declaration issued for acquiring lands in Tellapur, observing that the stated purpose of acquiring land for the formation or development of a township and future projects was vague and failed to provide landowners sufficient clarity to raise meaningful objections.The case relates to 92.39 acres spread across several survey numbers in Tellapur, earmarked for acquisition by the district collector on behalf of HUDA, now HMDA. The land forms part of 326.37 acres that were earlier held by the Industrial Employees Co-operative House Building Society.Allowing petitions filed by a plot owners’ association and five individuals, Justice Reddy held that while the authorities were free to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings, if necessary, they must do so strictly in accordance with the law.The petitioners argued that the land had been converted for non-agricultural use as early as 1986, laid out into plots, and had previously been excluded from acquisition in 1989 after consideration by the govt. They contended that the subsequent acquisition was essentially aimed at facilitating real estate development, pointing out that HUDA had invited tenders for township development even while objections to the acquisition were pending.The state govt and HMDA, however, maintained that planned township development constituted a valid public purpose. They argued that the term “township” was a recognised statutory expression and that completion of the acquisition process had been delayed because of interim court orders that had remained in force since 2007.The authorities also relied on subsequent statutory provisions that protected acquisition proceedings affected by court-imposed stays.Rejecting these contentions, the court noted that the same acquisition notification had already been quashed in a related Tellapur land acquisition case in Feb. It observed that the acquisition could not be held invalid for one set of similarly placed landowners while remaining valid for others covered by the same notification.The court also found fault with the Section 5-A enquiry conducted under the Land Acquisition Act, noting that the exercise had been reduced to a mere formality. Objections raised by landowners were rejected without adequate reasons and without meaningful consideration of the land’s history and earlier govt decisions, it said.
