Statehood movement: Telangana HC seeks state’s stance on activists’ plea for 250 square yard plots and Rs 2,500 monthly pension

The petitioners submitted that they were members of the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), and that criminal cases were lodged against them during the agitation for separate statehood; they argued that proof of their participation in the movement was these crimes.

When Justice Reddy asked if any government order had been issued promising pension and land to the activists, the counsel for the petitioners, Karunakar Reddy, submitted a letter dated May 2025, forwarded by a district collector to the principal secretary of the Revenue Department, on these lines for participants of the movement from 1969 to 2014.

‘You should have some enforceable right’

Justice Reddy also sought to know whether there was a government policy on the matter and noted that a letter forwarded by an official doesn’t give the petitioners any enforceable right. “There has to be a GO,” the judge observed, questioning the petitioners as to when and where the government has made such a promise.

The judge noted that the letter was “a request” from JAC to the district collector to drop criminal cases and award monthly pensions and plots. “He requested. Where did the government agree? You should have some enforceable right,” the judge observed.

The judge remarked that a separate statehood movement was being treated on par with the freedom movement, where people fought against the British and the Nizam. The judge added that a favourable order for the petitioners may lead more people to approach the court with similar pleas.

The counsel for the petitioners then submitted that two such people had been allotted plots after a GO was issued earlier, but the orders were not available on the official portal. The court then directed the assistant government pleader for assignment to get instructions or clarification on the state’s stance on this matter, and posted the matter for further hearing on February 23.