Ensure rehabilitation and resettlement benefits to dispossessed under 2013 Land Act, High Court tells Andhra Pradesh government

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to take steps to ensure that all the affected families, including agriculture workers and eligible poor, under various projects, get rehabilitation and resettlement package under the Land Acquisition Act 2013.

Making it clear that the authorities concerned should pass fresh orders regarding the said package, the bench directed the State government to take the services of legal services authorities of the State and to complete the entire process within six months.

The bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice V Ramasubramanian was passing this order in the PIL filed by the AP Agricultural Workers Union, represented by its general secretary V Venkateswarlu, seeking justice to the persons affected due to land acquisition notifications issued for various projects across the State.

The petitioner sought directions to the State government for providing benefits to the affected persons who included agriculture workers and others who were dependent on the lands acquired by the government for various projects.  

When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, the petitioner’s counsel told the court that the State government was claiming that there were no affected families who were found eligible in respect of various projects. Taking this submission into consideration, the bench directed the government to take the assistance of the legal services authorities of various districts in the State to re-verify whether there were eligible persons or not for availing the above benefits under the Land Acquisition Act 2013.Based on the report or information furnished after re-verification, the authorities should issue fresh awards for extending RR benefits to the affected families, the bench noted and closed the case.