PIL quizzes 5-acre largess to director, HC seeks T reply

Hyderabad: The Telangana high court has issued notices to the state government, revenue secretary, HMDA commissioner, Rangareddy district collector and others asking them to explain the rationale behind allotting five acres of land in Mokilla village in Rangareddy district to film director N Shankar at a nominal cost of Rs 5 lakh per acre when the prevailing price in the area is far higher .
A bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy, while hearing a PIL which challenged this allotment, gave four weeks to the authorities to respond to the contentions in the plea.
Petitioner J Shanker filed the plea contending that the prevailing price in the area was Rs 5 crore per acre and giving it at Rs 5 lakh was irrational. The registration department’s official value in the area itself was Rs 20 lakh per acre and the market value was Rs 5 crore, he said. The state made the allotment by issuing GO Ms No 75 through its municipal administration department on June 21, 2019.
“The state should keep in mind that it is not the owner of the land,” the petitioner said, adding “it is a trustee, a custodian of the public assets. The land belongs to the people of the state and the government of the day must protect the land for the benefit of its people.”
Film director Shankar made a representation to the state seeking allotment of land for setting up a film and TV studio and, based on his plea, the state issued the GO allotting five acres land to him, the petitioner said.