‘Unduly hasty’: Telangana High Court cancels BRS government’s free land allotment to IAMC

The IAMC was established in 2021 in Hyderabad to promote alternative dispute resolution. As a sitting CJI, Justice Ramana authored the trust deed for setting up the “charitable public trust”. Former Supreme Court judges R V Raveendran and L Nageswara Rao were named as life trustees, while a Telangana state minister and the Telangana High Court Chief Justice were named as ex-officio trustees.

A bench of Justices K Lakshman and K Sujana criticised the government for the arbitrary allotment of land with “undue haste”.

“We would also like to point out that the conduct of the government in allotting the land was unduly hasty. It is noteworthy that possession certificate was issued in favour of the IAMC even before formulating and communicating the terms of allotment. Such hasty decisions do not bode well and often result in exercise of power contrary to the procedure. Discretionary exercise of power shall not only be fair and transparent, but also should be seen to be fair and transparent,” the court said.

The land, allotted free of cost by the Bharat Rashtra Samiti government, is in Serilingampally, a revenue sub-division that also houses tech corridors, including HITEC City and Gachibowli. However, the current Congress government also defended the allotment. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is on the three-member board of trustees.

The court cancelled the land allotment on the grounds that the IAMC was not eligible for free allotment of land as a “private body”.

The court held that the allotment was contrary to the rules of the Telangana Urban Areas Development Act, 1975, which provides that government land can only be disposed by way of sale or exchange or lease or public auction.

The court said that the rules provide that allotment in favour of a private body can only be made if such a body is registered under the Companies Act. It then noted that, as on the date of allotment, the IAMC was not registered as a company. The court also held that, as per a 2012 government land allotment policy, land can be allotted only on market value, with free allotment contemplated only for state government departments and below poverty line families.

While the IAMC argued that it was a “public charitable trust,” the petitioners challenging the allotment argued that the body was making profits and earning remuneration.

“A private body like the IAMC can only be done for a public purpose and after collecting the applicable market value,” the high court said.