Telangana High Court
Konda Kommraiah vs The State Of Telangana on 19 December, 2024
Author: T. Vinod Kumar
Bench: T. Vinod Kumar
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE T. VINOD KUMAR
WRIT PETITION No.24778 OF 2024
ORDER:
Heard learned Counsel for the petitioner, learned
Government Pleader for Land Acquisition appearing for
respondent Nos.1 to 4 and 6, learned Government Pleader
for Irrigation and Command Area Development appearing
for respondent No.5 and perused the record.
2. Petitioner contends that he is the owner of various
extents of land all admeasuring Ac.2.36 gts. in Sy.
No.252/AA and 253/1 of Unikicherla village,
Dharmasagar Mandal, Hanumakonda District; that out of
the aforesaid land to an extent of Ac.2.08 gts. was
acquired without any notification and without payment of
compensation; and that the action of respondent
authorities in acquiring the land without issuing
notification and also without payment of compensation
apart from being illegal, in as much as land to an extent
of Ac.1.00 gts. remains unutilized, the respondents are
required to return to the petitioner.
3. Petitioner further contends that since the land to
an extent of Ac.1.00 gts. remains untilised, the petitioner
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had approached the respondent authorities and
submitted representation on 23.08.2023 and 05.02.2024
seeking for return of the aforesaid land to an extent of
Ac.1.00 gts. under Section 101 of the Right to Fair
Compensation, and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short ‘the
Act’), and inspite of the petitioner submitting the
aforesaid representation, the unutilized land of the
petitioner to an extent of Ac.1.00 gts. is not being
returned to him till date.
4. Counter-affidavit on behalf of respondent Nos.4 and
5 are filed.
5. Per contra, learned Government Pleader appearing
on behalf of respondents submits that the authorities
have acquired the land of the petitioner firstly by issuing
preliminary notification under Section 11 of the Act on
10.08.2018, thereafter draft declaration under Section 19
of the Act dated 21.10.2019 and thereafter by passing a
general award dated 28.05.2020.
6. Learned Government Pleader appearing on behalf of
respondents further submits that the respondent
authorities after passing of the order, took possession of
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the subject land under a cover of panchanama dated
08.09.2020 and also deposited the amount with the
authority on 10.08.2020.
7. Learned Government Pleader further submits that
the claim of the petitioner that the land to an extent of
Ac.1.00 gts out of the extent of Ac.2.08 gts remains
unutilized and thus, he is entitled to seek return of the
said land is not correct as the project work is in progress.
8. Learned Government Pleader further submits that
it is premature on the part of the petitioner to claim and
seek return of the subject land as unutilized, while he is
undertaking cultivation therein illegally, despite the said
land having been acquired by the respondent authorities.
9. I have taken note of the respective contentions.
10. Firstly, though the petitioner claims that he was
dispossessed from the subject land without initiating any
land acquisition proceedings and without passing the
order, as noted hereinabove, since the lands were
acquired by issuing a preliminary notification under
Section 11 of the Act, by issuing draft declaration under
Section 19 of the Act and thereafter passing an Award
under Section 30 of the Act on 28.05.2020, the claim of
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the petitioner of the respondent authority dispossessing
him without passing an Award cannot be accepted as
valid claim.
11. Further, it is also to be noted that as the petitioner
had refused to take notice and did not turn up to receive
the compensation by providing their bank account
passbooks, the respondent authorities had deposited the
awarded amount through a cheque before the authority
on 10.08.2020. Thus, the petitioner cannot claim that
his land was acquired without payment of any
compensation.
12. Secondly, though the petitioner claims that the
land to an extent of Ac.1.00 gts remains unutilsied, as
such the said land is to be returned to him in terms of the
provisions of Section 101 of the Act, Section 101 of the
Act as amended by the Telangana Amendment Act 2017
with effect from 01.01.2014 reads as under:
Section 101 of the Act
“Section 101: Return of unutilized land: When any
land acquired under this Act remains unutilised for a
period specified for setting up of any project or for five
years, whichever is later 1 from the date of taking over
the possession, the same shall be returned to the1 Substituted vide Act 21 of 2017 dated 17.05.2017
5original owner or owners or their legal heirs, as the case
may be, or to the Land Bank of the appropriate
Government by reversion in the manner as may be
prescribed by the appropriate Government.
Explanation.–For the purpose of this section, Land Bank
means a governmental entity that focuses on the
conversion of Government owned vacant, abandoned,
unutilised acquired lands and tax-delinquent properties
into productive use.”
13. A reading of Section 101 of the Act as applicable in
the State of Telangana specifies that the person whose
land has been acquired can seek for return of the land
only when the same remains unutilized for a period
specified for setting up any project or 5 years whichever is
later.
14. In the facts of the present case, since neither the
five year period nor the period specified for setting up of
the said project had expired, the petitioner is not entitled
to seek return of the land claiming the same as remaining
unutilized for the purpose for which it was acquired.
15. In view of the above, the present Writ Petition as
filed by the petitioner seeking for return of the land
acquired from him on the ground of the same remaining
unutilized cannot be accepted as a valid claim for the
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authorities to consider his representations in view of the
embargo placed under Section 101 of the Act.
16. In view of the above, this Court is of the view that
the present Writ Petition as filed is devoid of merit and is
accordingly dismissed.
Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in the Writ
Petition, shall stand closed.
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Date: 19.12.2024 T. VINOD KUMAR, J
MRKR