The Telangana High Court on Friday quashed the order issued by Lokayukta of Telangana directing the Husnabad Revenue Divisional Officer of Karimnagar district to recover compensation wrongly paid to some land owners as part of land acquisition proceedings.
A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar passed this direction, allowing a writ petition filed by four farmers challenging orders of the Lokayukta issued in September of 2021.
The Lokayukta instructed the RDO to recover the compensation received by the petitioners and deposit the same before the court.
The Lokayukta wanted the compensation recovered thus to the distributed to appropriate persons. Following this instruction, the RDO issued notices (described as Notice 2) to the petitioners. As per the notices, the petitioners were supposed to deposit the compensation amount before the court.
Advocate Ponnam Ashok Goud, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the provisions of Telangana Lokayukta Act-1983 did not empower the Lokayukta to pass such orders.
Observing that Sections 7 and 9 of the said Act did not empower Lokayukta to pass such orders, the Bench quashed the same.
It however said the parties connected to the matter can avail other remedies available to them in the law.
