Telangana High Court on Thursday issued notices to State government in a PIL petition seeking cancellation of allotment of 6,5357 square yards of land at L.B. Nagar in Hyderabad to Deccan Chronicle Holdings Private (DCHPL) Limited and recovery of the same from the latter.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N. Tukaramji, after hearing the petition filed by BJP leader and social worker Perala Shekhar Rao, instructed the government to respond to the notices. According to the petitioner, the then State government of undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2009 allotted the land to DCHPL at the rate of ₹7,000 per square yard.
The land was supposed to be used for the purpose of publication of newspaper. Mr. Shekhar Rao contended that, however, the DCHPL did not use it for the said purpose. It entered into an agreement with TNR Constructions, a real estate company, to develop the allotted land for commercial purpose, the petitioner maintained.
He stated that DCHPL also entered into the field of Indian Premier League and owned a team christened Deccan Chargers. The petitioner claimed that due to mismanagement of the matters relating to IPL, the company slipped into a debt trap and could not repay the loans secured from public and private banks.
The CBI had registered criminal cases in this regard against the company while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) authorities attached 19 of the company’s immovable properties along with nine movable properties. However, the ED did not attach the land allotted to the company at L.B. Nagar.
The bench posted the matter for February 23.
