T high court to hear IMG Bharat plea on Dec 27

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Monday said it will take up hearing in a 2006 petition filed by Billy Rao of IMG Academies Bharat Pvt Ltd challenging the decision of the then AP government to cancel the land allotment to the company. The court posted the case to December 27. The TDP government had in 2003 allotted 850 acres on the outskirts of Hyderabad to the company to develop standard sports facilities. Subsequently, the Congress government had in 2006 called it a "scam" and cancelled the land allotment and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) too. Billy Rao questioned the cancellation and the matter was heard by three separate benches of the high court, but it remained unresolved till now. The Congress government in 2004 had entrusted the matter to CBI for a thorough probe, which never took off. While Congress claimed that Billy Rao cheated the state with false claims of having association with prestigious IMG Florida, Billy Rao and his associates have been claiming that their IMG Bharat has some indirect links with IMG World. In the meantime, several PILs were filed too questioning the land allotment and also the decision of the then TDP government to hand over all stadia in Hyderabad to IMG Bharat. IMG Bharat counsel Vedula Venkat Ramana said that the AP state unilaterally cancelled their MoU and the Telangana state too has been supporting it in a blind manner, he added. The state counsel sought two weeks time by when a new advocate general would be named and present the case of the state. The bench posted the case to December 27.