HC knocks out 2008 declaration
Justice V.R. Reddy strikes down the Section 6 step for Mid Manair resettlement lands — says Telangana skipped the statutory hearing and couldn’t prove “exceptional urgency”. The Section 4(1) start stays; proceed afresh if you must, but do it by the book.
The High Court set aside the 2008 Section 6 declaration while leaving the Section 4(1) notification intact.
The Telangana High Court has set aside the 2008 Section 6 land-acquisition declaration covering the lands of Kusa Lachi Reddy and others for a Mid Manair Reservoir Project resettlement zone — and kept the rest standing. According to the judgment dated July 28, 2026, the state failed to lawfully dispense with the Section 5-A enquiry or show urgency so extreme that even a summary hearing could not be held.
Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy wrote that the record itself undercut the government’s stance: the Gazette reflected invocation of Section 17(1) and 17(2), while the state’s counter claimed no urgency clause at all. Either hold the 5-A hearing, or validly exercise 17(4) with evidence — “neither position has been established.”
What the court did not do is just as important. The Section 4(1) preliminary notification dated January 16, 2008 remains intact. The court expressly said it has not declared the proceedings lapsed under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act, and left authorities free to proceed afresh under the current law if the land is still needed — which, for anyone serious about rehabilitation, means fixing the process rather than pretending the hearing never mattered.
The order is a reminder that infrastructure gets built faster when the paperwork can stand up in court. Delhi’s habit of cutting corners and the Congress-BJP routine of waving “urgency” like a magic wand meet the same end here: back to the statute, and this time, with the hearing you should have held in 2008.