Railways, state fight on road widening

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, July 14: The South Central Railway and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation have flung accusations at each other before the High Court over the acquisition of railway properties for road widening between Tarnaka and Sangeet theatre in the city.
The Special Deputy Collector for Land Acquisition in GHMC had issued a notification for acquiring railway properties on May 30 this year. The SCR challenged the notification and the High Court stayed the notification till further orders.
In its submission, the SCR said that the state government cannot initiate land acquisition proceedings against it. It quoted a direction of Supreme Court that land owned by the state on which there are no private rights or encumbrances was beyond the purview of the Land Acquisition Act.
It further alleged in its petition that the GHMC adopted dilatory tactics with an intention to grab its property.
However, in its counter, the GHMC refuted allegations and said it was surprising that the SCR had expressed willingness to cooperate with road widening and had then refused to agree to the compensation fixed by the district collector.
It alleged that the present writ was filed with an intention to arm-twist the GHMC into agreeing to the demands of the SCR. On the one hand the SCR says that they are willing to part the land and on the other hand they say that the GHMC has no authority to invoke the Land Acquisition Act. It was the adamant attitude of the SCR that had forced it to invoke the Act, said the GHMC.
The Municipal Corporation said in fact the Inner Ring Road not only connects International Airport, but also connects the Secundrabad railway station, which is an important railway junction.
The GHMC informed the court that 10,600 square yards of belonging to 30 individuals and other Union Government public authorities including NGRI, CCMB, IICT, Survey of India, DRDL, DMRL, DRDO and NIN acquired by the corporation on free of cost under private negotiations.
Mr Pouluri Bhaskar, counsel for the SCR, said "it is not a question of compensation, if we allow the GHMC to bulldoze our properties on which it did not have any right, it will become a precedent for others".
However, the High Court on Monday heard arguments on a PIL filed by the K Manikpabhu and others challenging stopping of the road widening programme abruptly on the stretch. The SCR argued that the petition was infructuos as the court stayed the land acquisition proceedings. The petitioners sought a week time and the case was posted for next week.