Apex Court nullifies Telangana Govt's Land Allotments to MLAs, MPs, Journalists & Civil Servants.......

 

    The Supreme Court has dealt a significant blow to the Telangana government's discretionary land allotment scheme within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. A division bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna quashed government orders allocating residential plots to MLAs, MPs, journalists, and civil servants.

    The court's decision stems from a 2008 land allotment by the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government. Civil society groups challenged the allotments, leading to a 2010 Andhra Pradesh High Court ruling against the government. The Telangana government and cooperative societies appealed to the Supreme Court.

    K.K. Venugopal in 2022 argued for a ban on discretionary land allotments to politicians, judges, and others in urban areas. He emphasized the need for a uniform land allotment policy to prevent arbitrary decisions. The Supreme Court's ruling aligns with this view, prioritizing transparency and fairness in land distribution. The court has directed the Telangana government to refund amounts paid by cooperative societies with interest determined jointly by the state government and the Reserve Bank of India.