Roundtable raises doubts over legal validity of land pooling

February 23, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:42 am IST - VIJAYAWADA:

Speakers at a roundtable on the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act held here on Sunday described land pooling as a draconian legislation that is facilitating real estate business.

Knowing that land pooling is against the Constitutional tenets, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu planned it in such a way that when challenged in a court of law, he can substantiate his argument in its favour by showing the consent letters given by farmers.

In fact, a majority of the landowners are under tremendous pressure to part with their valuable lands. Officials are virtually sitting on their heads while gun-toting policemen moved around the villages instilling a sense of fear. It is in such circumstances that farmers are giving their lands but it was made out to be a smooth affair, the participants said in the meeting that was jointly organised by All India Lawyers’ Union (AILU) and Vijayawada Tax Payers’ Association (VTPA).

Andhra Pradesh Bar Council member S. Rajendra Prasad said, “the definition of ‘developer entity’ was open for a convenient interpretation by the government and that the CRDA Act was sought to be given a certain degree of immunity in courts by pre-empting the scope for a legal recourse by the aggrieved public,” he said.

Anumolu Gandhi, farmers’ leader from Mandadam village in Thullur mandal, cast doubts on the fire accident in which bamboo logs and some horticulture fields were burnt in the Capital region.

“If it was a real incident, why did the police fail to nab the culprits for so long after creating a scene there?” he asked.

VTPA president V. Sambi Reddy alleged that the entire process of land pooling was shrouded in secrecy .

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