A House Committee of the Telangana Assembly will be constituted to go into misuse of assigned, temple, Wakf, church, bhoodan and urban ceiling surplus lands in the State in the backdrop of allegations against Telangana Congress committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah that the hatcheries owned by him and his brother wrongfully enjoyed 8.39 acres of land assigned to SCs at Rampur village near Warangal.
The announcement of the House panel by Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary was the culmination of a detailed debate in the Assembly on a calling attention motion to debate the lands of Mr. Lakshmaiah, who is also a former Minister. Mr. Chary said the committee would be constituted with floor leaders of all parties and today’s discussions would form the basis for its terms of reference.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao requested the Speaker to constitute the committee going by the mood of the House. He said revenue records showed that 1.90 lakh acres of uncultivable land which was assigned by previous governments to SCs, STs, BCs and other poorer sections was found to be in wrong hands in the State.
MIM plea grantedAsserting that violation of assigned land legislation was proved in Mr. Lakshmaiah’s case, Mr. Rao expressed the commitment of the government to resume lands that changed hands and return them to the original beneficiaries. He conceded the request of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi to convene a meeting of Muslim religious leaders of all sects, MPs, MLAs and MLCs on protection of Wakf properties.
Earlier, Revenue Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali and Legislative Affairs Minister T. Harish Rao informed the House that Mr. Lakshmaiah enjoyed the land against court orders and eviction notices issued by revenue authorities and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation prior to becoming a Minister in 2004. As a Minister, he exercised his influence to get the land regularised by the government and hand it over to APIIC for the purpose of an industrial development area.
Leader of the Opposition K. Jana Reddy said the question of assignment was over after government regularised the land and gave it to APIIC but Mr. Harish Rao argued it was done by a government order against the legislation. Mr. Rao wanted tough steps on such encroachments over thousands of acres and sought the intervention of the Speaker who took suggestions of all parties as a special case when they mooted the House Committee.
