HC stays state plan to acquire temple land for Pharma City

Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Tuesday restrained the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) from acquiring 1,022 acres of temple land in Yacharam mandal in Rangareddy district for setting up Hyderabad Pharma CityA bench of Justice T Vinod Kumar and Justice Pulla Karthik gave the interim order to maintain status quo after hearing an appeal filed by two devotees of Omkareswara Swamy Temple situated in Nandiwanaparthy village questioning the decision of the temple authorities to part with land situated at Nazidik Singaram village despite a court stay on government acquiring such property. It can be recalled that the composite high court of AP in May 2006 had passed a restraint order disabling the government and its authorities from dealing with temple land parcels. The court in that order had said that the state agencies can seek permission of the court to modify its order if it wanted any part of the temple land anywhere in the combined state for any public purpose. Accordingly, TSIIC had approached a single judge with a request to allow them to use the temple land for Pharma City. It also reminded the single judge that a division bench of the court had earlier allowed the state to acquire four acres of temple land for an irrigation project. The single judge allowed the state’s plea and said the state should acquire the land and the compensation should be paid in the temple account.But the petitioners, Motekani Jangaiah and Andekar Devoji of Yacharam mandal, questioned the state’s action in acquiring temple land. Their counsel argued that the single judge should not have heard the state’s plea because the 2006 order was given by a division bench and the exemption order for an irrigation project too was given by a division bench. In fact, several single judges were refusing to entertain the pleas of the state agencies and asking them to approach a division bench, he said. He also said that exemption granted for an irrigation project cannot be equated with that of a pharma city while pointing out that the HC had earlier rejected the state plea when it sought temple land for an industrial park in the name of public purpose. “The courts have been taking a serious view of the state’s actions whenever they eye temple land,” he said. The bench said it would examine why the matter was first listed before a single judge when it ought to have been listed before a division bench. It also said it would examine whether temple land can be given to industrial purposes also. The case was posted to July for further hearing.