Congress tries to regularise land at cheap rates for Mayor, High Court takes up PIL

Telangana HC questioned the Congress government’s plan to regularise prime Banjara Hills land for Mayor Gadwal Vijaya Laxmi and her brother L.K. Venkateswara Rao at decades-old rates. Bench ruled any regularisation must reflect current market value; hearing adjourned to January 7

Hyderabad: An attempt by the Congress government to regularise prime land in Banjara Hills in favour of Mayor Gadwal Vijaya Laxmi and her brother LK Venkateswara Rao at extremely low rates that were fixed more than 30 years ago is likely to end up as an embarrassment for the Congress, with the High Court observing that any regularisation should be at the prevailing market value.

The observation came after Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin on Wednesday took up a Public Interest Litigation questioning the State government’s decision to regularise prime land in Banjara Hills in favour of Congress Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao’s son Venkateswara Rao and daughter Vijaya Laxmi.

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The PIL, filed by Gadeela Raghuveer Reddy, challenged GO Ms No. 56 dated May 23, 2023, under which 1,161 square yards was regularised in favour of Venkateswara Rao, and 425 square yards in favour of the Mayor, acting as GPA holder for Kavitha Rao. The regularisation was granted at basic values fixed in the 1990s, Rs 2,500 per sq yard (1998) and Rs 350 per sq yard (1993) respectively.

The petitioner contended that the order violated the State’s own land regularisation policy in GO Ms No. 59 of 2014, read with GO Ms No. 22 of 2023, and offended the public trust doctrine. He argued that extending such concessions to high-profile individuals was arbitrary and contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution.

The Bench remarked that the law must apply equally to all and observed that any regularisation, if permitted, may have to be at prevailing market value.

The matter was adjourned to January 7 for further hearing.