A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court comprising Justices Rakesh Kumar and J. Uma Devi on Thursday turned down a plea seeking a stay on the process of land acquisition and distribution of house sites under the ‘Pedalandariki Illu’ scheme, which is scheduled for launch on Friday.
The bench observed that it was not proper to impose a stay as the land transactions involved the government and individuals, and that the petitioners should have approached the court only if they were personally aggrieved.
The court also made it clear that the land acquisition would be, however, subject to its final order and adjourned the case to January 22.
One of the grounds on which the petition was filed was that the allotment of house sites would cause migration on a large scale and also affect the proposed delimitation of Assembly constituencies.
Interim stay
Meanwhile, a separate bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice J.K. Maheswari granted an interim stay on the resuming of about 228 acres at Gundlamadugu village in Thondur mandal of Kadapa district for constructing houses under ‘Pedalandariki Illu’ scheme.
The petitioner argued that the land is in the possession of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and it was intended for industrial development. The matter has been ordered to be listed after four weeks.
Advocate-General S. Sriram argued that when the land was acquired for a specified purpose, the validity of its resumption merely for assignment has to be examined in the context of the real public purpose involved in it.
