HC sets aside order resuming nine acres land allotted to AAI

Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar of Telangana High Court on Monday set aside a 2008 order issued by the then State government of undivided Andhra Pradesh resuming nine acres of land at Kancha Gachhibowli in Ranga Reddy district from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The order seeking resumption of the land was ‘bereft of reasons’ and lacked jurisdiction, the judge said. Passing the order without informing the issue to the Ministry of Civil Aviation was arbitrary and against principles of natural justice, the verdict said.

The land was allotted to the AAI (initially to the Ministry of Civil Aviation) in 1966-67. The piece of land was acquired for operating a Radio Navigational Aid (V.O.R.) The facility was commissioned in 1971. Twenty years later, the Revenue authorities wrote to AAI asking to show cause why the land should not be resumed since it was not utilised. The AAI replied that the land was utilised.

In 2008, the A.P. government passed order resuming the ‘un-utilised land’. The judge observed that the A.P. (now Telangana) State authorities, being custodians of the land records, could not present any documents showing status of the land. The officials did not serve any notice to the AAI at the time of conducting panchnama while resuming the land, the judge said.