Telangana HC backs state's allotment of 5 acres at Rs 25 lakhs to director Shankar

Hyderabad: On Friday, the Telangana High Court Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji upheld the state government’s decision to allocate government land, film producer and director N Shankar at a very low cost. The state had allotted five acres in Mokilla village, Shankarpally mandal in Ranga Reddy district at just Rs 5 lakh per acre when the prevailing market price was in crores.

The court was looking into a PIL filed by J Shankar from Karimnagar district, challenging the decision of the state government in issuing GO No 75 under the Municipal Administration Urban Development Department, on June 21, 2019.

Dismissing the Public Interest Litigation challenging the land allotment to Shankar, the bench, in its order, said that Shankar has paid an amount of Rs 25 lakh to get the five acres for setting up a TV and film studio and has further spent an amount of Rs 1.25 crore to develop the land besides making payments to the architects, designers and labour.

The court said that Shankar has even given a road map for the development of the studio. The court took judicial note of the fact that several states of the country have conferred or extended various benefits and facilities to eminent sports personalities, artists etc., and the state of Telangana is no exception.

Moreover, it can be better if there was a specific policy in this regard so as to eliminate any scope of nepotism and favouritism while allotting government land to undeserving persons and undeserving causes.

The bench, in its order, said, “We find that there is no allegation of any malafide, favouritism or nepotism on the part of the state in allocating the land to N Shankar. This court is of the view that, as per the director’s request, the question of holding a public auction or a tender would not arise as the land has been allotted to him for consideration and for a larger objective.”

Further, the court said that it would have been better, if the state had framed a policy for such allotments of land to various eminent personalities or institutions. But even without such a policy, the court said that it cannot come to a conclusion that the current allotment needs legal intervention.

The court found fault with the petitioner J Shankar for challenging such an allotment, as the petitioner has not pointed out that such an allotment of the land was sought out for other filmmakers too. Hence, the court declined to issue a writ or direction intervening with the allotment of the land in favour of film director N Shankar and consequently dismissed the PIL.