Hyderabad, April 29: The Rs. 7,200 crore mega-project of Lanco Hills is in serious trouble. With the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday postponing the hearing in the Wakf Board-Lanco Hills case until after the court vacation that ends on June 6, the company will not be able to take up construction or any other activity on the site.
Earlier, the Wakf Tribunal has stayed the construction at Lanco Hills and the High Court on Wednesday did not vacate it. That means, the company will have to wait till further court orders to continue with the project.
The dispute between the Wakf Board and Lanco Hills Technolgoy Park over the ownership of land where Lanco Hills is being constructed has been going on for the past several years. The state government had sold 1,654.32 acres of land, estimated to be around Rs. 32,000 crore, to a group of multinational companies and IT firms at throwaway prices. The Wakf Board alleged that the land that was sold was ‘wakf land’ and belonged to the Dargah Hazrath Hussain Shah Wali, in Manikonda village.
When the ownership dispute was heard in the High Court on Wednesday, Lanco’s counsel sought time to “explore the possibility of an alternate resolution.” Counsel for Lanco Hills Mahmood Ali told the court that they would like to ask the state government to provide another chunk of land to the Hazrath Hussain Shah Wali Dargah and Wakf Board in lieu of the land at Manikonda over which flats were already constructed at considerable costs. Therefore, they should be given time for the same.
Responding to Mahmood Ali’s request, Justice Ghulam Mohammed posted the matter until after the court vacation that ends on June 6.
Mahmood Ali had told the court in earlier hearings that his client had bought the land located in Manikonda Jagir from the government in an open auction, paid the money and began construction of flats and other structures for sale. At one of the hearings he also said that if the land which is now claimed by the managing committee of Dargah and the State Wakf Board turns out to be wakf property, his client would look for alternative settlement.
The legal case has badly hit the prospects of this high-profile project whose cost was raised from Rs. 6,000 crore to Rs. 7,200 crore in November 2008. Nearly 10,000 workers were engaged for the project where Lanco proposed to built about 30 million sq ft of built up space including residential area, IT towers in SEZ, retail and hospitality and non-SEZ area. As many as 12 towers were originally proposed to be constructed in Lanco Hills.
-Agencies–