Justice A. Ramalingeswar Rao of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday said that the court will be willing to protect the possession of the land of the farmers who came to court challenging the tenders called for Mallannasagar Project, but it cannot stall the entire project at this stage.
The judge was dealing with a writ petition filed by Lakshmi and five others of Vemula Ghat village. The main contention of the petitioners was that, without proper environmental clearance and completion of the process contemplated under the new Land Acquisition Act, tenders were being invited.
As per the Supreme Court, without environmental clearance, land could not be acquired. The petitioners further said that they had filed their objections to the preliminary notification. These objections were to be heard and the issue of feasibility of the project could also be examined. Now, tenders were called for literally frustrating the statutory process.
D. Prakash Reddy, Advocate General of Telangana said that this was a huge project wherein 1,700 acres were needed and there were only six small farmers before the court. They cannot stall the project when large tracts of land were already given by other farmers. The judge said that the court will protect the interests of the petitioners but cannot stop all the works unless such case is filed as PIL.
The judge asked the government to file counter affidavit within four weeks.