Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Monday directed the state govt to file counters within three weeks in a petition filed by Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), a public sector undertaking under the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, challenging the resumption of 891 acres of prime land at Balanagar.The land, allotted to IDPL in 1994, is currently valued at around ₹50,000 crore.Justice NV Shravan Kumar ordered the matter to be posted on July 13 along with connected petitions pending before the court. The directive comes against the backdrop of earlier interim orders.In May, a single judge had suspended the 2008 order of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) that permitted the state to resume the land. Subsequently, a division bench, hearing IDPL’s appeal, restrained the govt from taking coercive action.During Monday’s hearing, advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy, appearing for the state, opposed the petition, contending that BIFR passed orders without giving the govt notice or an opportunity to be heard.B Narasimha Sharma, additional solicitor general of India for Telangana, appearing for IDPL, argued that the land was allotted through a conveyance deed, making IDPL the absolute owner for an indefinite period.“The state cannot resume the land. IDPL has been forced to approach the court in view of the state govt’s actions to resume the land,” he said, urging the court to quash the 2008 resumption orders.IDPL maintained that it has remained in continuous possession of the property, operating an effluent treatment plant serving around 150 industries, maintaining factory licences, paying utility charges and property taxes, and protecting the land from encroachments.The company further pointed out that portions of the land were transferred to the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research under Union govt directions, which, it argued, reflected official recognition of its ownership.
