The Telangana High Court on Monday (March 16) directed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party to file a counter-affidavit within three weeks in two PILs challenging the allotment of 11 acres of land to the BRS party for its office.
Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin had earlier on July 18, 2023 issued notices to the Chief Secretary, HMDA Commissioner, Chief Land Administration Commissioner and the BRS party. Since then, BRS has not filed any counter-affidavit in this matter. The court made it clear that this was the last opportunity for BRS to file a counter-affidavit.
BRS counsel TV Ramana Rao argued that the two PILs were politically motivated. There was no public interest in both petitions. He said the petitioners targeted the BRS and did not raise any objections when similar land allocations were made to political parties.
He asked for four weeks’ time to file a counter-affidavit. Additional Advocate General Mohammed Imran Khan informed the bench that the state government has already filed a counter-affidavit in the matter. While the Forum for Good Governance filed one PIL, the other was filed by advocate A. Venkatarami Reddy challenging the BRS government’s decision to allot hundreds of crores worth of prime area land to the BRS party.
The allotment was made at a cost of ₹ 3.41 crore, while the market price was much higher, the petitioners alleged. The petitioners alleged that the BRS party already had an office at Road No. 12 in Banjara Hills and still 11 acres of land was stolen from the BRS party on the pretext of constructing an Institute of Excellence and Human Resource Development.
Published – 16 March 2026 21:20 IST
