Land allotment to filmmaker Shankar: Telangana HC reserves order

Hyderabad: Telangana High Court reserved orders in the PIL challenging the decision of the Telangana government to allot five acres of land to filmmaker N. Shankar at Mokilla village, Shankarpally Mandal in Ranga Reddy district.

Satyam Reddy, Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner opposed the move of the state government in allocating land worth crores of rupees at a nominal cost of Rs. 5 lakh per acre to Shankar.

Satyam Reddy informed the Court that after 1985, most of the film directors have done away with the idea of setting up a Film Studio / Institute as most of the movies are now made outside.

He said the action of the state government in allotting the land to N. Shankar is nothing but nepotism and favoritism to a particular person. He said such an action is illegal and sought suspension of the GO through which the 5 acres of land were allotted.

Advocate General Banda Shivananda Prasad informed the court that N. Shankar is in the cinema field for the last four decades. He said Shankar has participated in the Telangana agitation and fought for a separate state.

The state government decided to allocate land to the film director for setting up a film institute/studio, which will create employment, and the decision is approved by the cabinet.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji also agreed with the contention of the Advocate General Telangana saying that various state governments and even the central government have policies and allot lands to eminent personalities in sports, artists, IT companies, industrialists, etc

Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan recalled the decisions of various state governments which allotted lands to persons as a mark of recognition. He cited the example of Bhupen Hazarika, a great renowned singer, and late Sri Satyajit Ray, an eminent film director who were allocated lands by the respective State governments for their services.