A welcome departure from the past: TS resolve to resume unused govt lands

One of the issues on which KCR spearheaded the Telangana agitation was reclaiming the land that was irregularly and illegally given or allowed to be occupied by earlier regimes. But once in power the issue was forgotten and the land grabbers had a field day as good as it was before or perhaps better compared to the past. Lands allocated for film studios were converted into residential apartments and sold with impunity no questions asked. Last but not the least, for fighting out land-related cases effectively in the courts, you need a competent set of government lawyers, advocate general whose integrity is beyond doubt

There is a news item stating that the Chief Minister of Telangana, A Revanth Reddy, wants the officials to list out lands taken for establishment of industries but not put to use so that steps can be initiated for resuming those lands. If the intentions are sincere, and followed up in execution, it would be a welcome departure from the past. Most of the times what we see is that these remain statements of initial enthusiasm not followed up later.

In fact, one of the issues on which KCR spearheaded the Telangana agitation was reclaiming the land that was irregularly and illegally given or allowed to be occupied by earlier regimes. But once in power the issue was forgotten and the land grabbers had a field day as good as it was before or perhaps better compared to the past. Lands allocated for film studios were converted into residential apartments and sold with impunity no questions asked.

Even if a government is sincere there are two provisions in allocation of government land which come in the way of resuming the lands allocated to different institutions for different purposes but were not put to use or put to a different use.

One of the provisions is that the powers to resume the land for violation of conditions of allocation rests with the cabinet, since the land allocation is done by the cabinet. This is a lengthy process and even if the Collector concerned is sincere and sends proposal it takes years for the file to reach the cabinet after going through the labyrinth of bureaucratic procedures. The process of resumption can be expedited if this power of resumption can be delegated to the Collectors concerned. In Andhra Pradesh this was done after bifurcation of the state. Hope Telangana would follow up, if not already done.

The second major lacunae is in the process of allocation of the land itself. It is very easy for suitcase companies to come up with a project report and request for allocation of land with right political connections. In the conditions of allocation they will ensure or rather the establishment connives with them to transfer the title deed in favour of the company allowing them to mortgage the same to financial institutions and raise money. When the company goes bankrupt which in any case it will since it was only set up to knock off precious land, the land allotted gets sold to repay the loans of the financial institutions. Essentially, the company is trading in the government land. This happened with many industries earlier, a classic case being Lepakshi Industrial City in Anantapur district. The cabinet should take a decision only to lease the land to the company and should not give powers to the company to morgage government land and raise loans. Any loans raised by the company should be based on the strength of their project report, not on the value of the land.

Last but not the least fighting out land-related cases effectively in the courts. You need a competent set of government lawyers and advocate general whose integrity is beyond doubt. Otherwise, easiest thing is to get a favourable court order with the connivance of officials and lawyers and patronage of the political authority. A Supreme Court order becomes the final seal of authority. There are any number of cases where government was forced to hand over land to petitioners under threat of contempt, fully aware that land actually belongs to the government.

Let us hope the present Chief Minister will walk his talk.

(Writer is a former Chief Secretary, Andhra Pradesh)