Acquisition of land for Metro station stayed.

Justice B. Shivashankar Rao of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday stayed all further proceedings regarding the acquisition of 60 acres on the outskirts of Vijayawada for Metro station and depot to be used by the Amaravathi Metro Rail Corporation.

The Judge was dealing with a case filed by Vasantha and others who complained that the authorities had invoked the GO issued in January 2015 to avoid Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Food Security clauses in the new Land acquisition Act. This GO was issued based on an ordinance issued by the Union Government in December 2014, which had lapsed long back.

The petitioners lamented that based on the lapsed ordinance and a defunct GO, their lands in Nidamanuru village of the Vijayawada rural mandal were being taken away. The Judge had called for response of the officers.

The Metro Rail authorities said the notification might have mentioned the GO of 2015 but the Social Impact Assessment had been carried out and such technical issue could not be raised by the petitioners to stall such an important project.

Serious allegations were made against the petitioners. The Judge wanted the response of the Land Acquisition officer who issued the notification. He said all further proceedings were to be stayed as the very issuance of Section 11 preliminary notification was challenged. The case would be listed next Monday.

THE HINDU