The Telangana High Court directed the Central and the State governments to serve notice to the Secunderabad Club and follow the due procedure in accordance with law if the clubโs property is affected, while constructing the Elevated Corridor from Paradise Junction to Shameerpet.
Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy of the High Court passed the order, disposing of a writ petition filed by the club represented by its secretary Gogi Reddy Srinivas Reddy seeking a direction to set aside the working permission granted to Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to build the corridor.
The petitioner wanted to declare the permission issued by the Central government to HMDA for constructing the corridor as erroneous, illegal and violation of Articles 14 and 300 A of the Constitution of India to the extent of affecting the clubโs property.
The petitionerโs counsel contended that the club, which is in existence since 1888, had buildings, structures and out-houses spread over 22 acres of land in survey no 170 of Thokatta village (close to present Jubilee Bus Stand) in Secunderabad. The Defence Estates Officer of Secunderabad Cantonment issued permission to HMDA disputing the right and title of the petitioner, according to the counsel. The letter according permission issued on March 1, 2024 did not make any reference to the rights of the club, he said.
Giving details of the previous cases in lower court and the HC relating to rights of the club over the property, the counsel said the Central government permitted HMDA to commence the construction of elevated corridor without considering the clubโs claims over the property. He told the Bench that the government is obliged to award compensation for acquiring a personโs property.
The counsel contended that the government cannot dispossess a person of the property without adhering to procedure established by law.
The HMDA counsel informed the Bench that Telangana government proposed elevated corridor of 18 kms with Right of Way of 60 metres with six lanes. The counsel said the requisition for the defence lands being affected by the construction of the corridor was enumerated with survey numbers and extent of areas in consultation with the local Defence Estate authorities. The same was uploaded on the portal of the Ministry of Defence on July 19, 2023.
The Ministry had also communicated the sanction of the President of India for grant of work permission to the State government. The HMDAโs Chief Engineer issued instructions to the authorities concerned to initiate land acquisition under Transferable Development Rights (TDR) basis at the earliest.
