Telangana High Court stays land acquisition notification for industrial park in Lagacherla, Hakimpet
Setback for Congress government’s move to acquire 110 acres in Lagacherla, 351 acres in Hakimpet
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday stayed the land acquisition notification issued by the State government on November 29, 2024, for the purpose of establishing a Multipurpose Industrial Park. Justice J Sreenivas Rao was dealing with two batches of writ pleas filed by the villagers of Lagacherla and Hakimpet in Vikarabad district.
Senior counsel V Raghunath represented Lagacherla villagers, and counsel N Praveen Kumar represented the Hakimpet villagers. The said notification was issued to acquire about 110 acres in Lagacherla village and 351 acres in Hakimpet village for establishing an industrial park. It may be recalled that earlier, the Lagacherla villagers had protested against the government’s proposal to acquire land for a pharma village.
The petitioners contended that after withdrawing the pharma village notification, the government issued a fresh notification for an industrial park, once again affecting the rights of farmers and their livelihood. Raghunath argued that the government had not come out of its colonial mindset, despite the Parliament repealing the old Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and introducing a new enactment in 2013. He said the new Act emphasises fair compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement of displaced persons.
Raghunath contended that invoking the urgency clause under Section 9 and doing away with the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) prescribed under Sections 4, 5, and 6 of the 2013 Act was arbitrary. He further argued that there was no convincing reason for invoking the urgency clause. The impugned notification lacks essential details such as the specific extent of land being acquired from each landowner, thereby violating principles of natural justice and fair procedure, he said.
More importantly, no consultation was conducted with the affected landowners, and the government failed to hold mandatory Gram Sabha meetings, which are required under Section 11(2) and 11(3) of the 2013 Act, Raghunath pointed out. There are several violations including the issuing mandatory publication requirement under Section 11(1) of the Act.
Raghunath also highlighted that the notification vaguely mentions the establishment of a multipurpose industrial park without defining the specific public purpose, making the acquisition arbitrary and unsustainable in law. The petitioners had submitted written objections to the District Collector on January 24, 2025, expressing their unwillingness to give up their land, but their concerns were ignored, violating their right to property under Article 300-A of the Constitution.
S Rahul Reddy, Special Government Pleader, representing the State government, argued that the notification had been legally issued and that the government has the authority to invoke the urgency clause for a public purpose project aimed at benefiting the public at large.
Hearing submissions from both the sides, the judge conceded the submissions made by the petitioners and stayed the notification, only with respect to the 16 villagers who approached the court in the present two writ petitions.
Justice Sreenivas Rao will continue to hear the cases on April 7.
The Congress government had planned to acquire 1,358 acres in the villages of Hakimpet, Lagacherla, Polepally, Rotibanda Thanda and Pulicherla Thanda in Vikarabad for a proposed Pharma Village. However, following allegations that land was being acquired for Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s son-in-law’s company and amid protests by Lagacherla farmers, and also cases being filed against the Pharma Village in the High Court, the government withdrew its initial notification. Later, a fresh notification was issued in November 2024 to acquire 1,177 acres for the multipurpose industrial park, against which the villagers approached the High Court.
