The Andhra Pradesh high court on Wednesday granted stay on the Jagan Mohan Reddy Pradesh government’s move to take back the returnable plots allotted to Dalits, who had given away their assigned lands for Amaravati capital under land pooling as part of the agreement with the erstwhile AP capital region development authority (APCRDA).
The high court issued interim orders stayed the implementation of GO No. 316, aimed at recovering the residential and commercial plots allotted to the Dalit farmers in lieu of the assigned lands surrendered to the APCRDA for the capital construction.
The government’s counsel opposed the interim orders saying that the government has not yet taken back their plots but only served notices on them, as selling the assigned lands or exchanging them with plots is against the rules.
The high court, however, dismissed the government argument and issued stay on the implementation of the GO.
In August first week, the Jagan government issued notices to around 50 farmers, who had been allotted residential and commercial plots allotted by the then Telugu Desam Party government in lieu of the assigned lands given for the capital construction under land pooling.
Notices are also being given to those who had purchased assigned lands from Dalits at lesser rate, gave them away to the government under land pooling and in return, were allotted residential and commercial plots in the prime areas of Amaravati.
All the Dalit farmers who were allotted plots and all those who had bought the assigned lands of Dalits and got the plots allotted were asked to give explanation within 15 days as to why their residential and commercial plots should not be taken back for violation of the assigned lands norms. Some of these farmers moved the high court and obtained the stay on the GO.
As per the norms, the government lands assigned to Dalits for cultivation should not be sold or purchased. If it happens, the government has powers to cancel the assignment and take them back.
However, during the construction of capital city at Amaravati, the then Chandrababu Naidu government issued an order (GO No. 41) lifting these restrictions on assigned lands and enabling the Dalit farmers to sell their lands, so that the government could acquire them for the capital city under land pooling.
Some of the Dalit farmers had sold away their lands to the private people for their financial needs and some others surrendered their lands to the government in lieu of which they were allotted residential and commercial plots.
It suspected that many TDP leaders had purchased lands from Dalit farmers by threatening them as part of the insider trading and initiated an ACB inquiry into it. However, the state high court and later the Supreme Court struck down the case, ruling out insider trading.
