Telangana’s approach to acquiring land for Hyderabad Pharma City drew scrutiny because, according to a 2022 Scroll.in investigation, the state initially used government orders and negotiated-purchase procedures rather than the process set out in India’s 2013 land-acquisition law. The investigation reported that residents felt pressured and that some protections were bypassed. Those are reported allegations, not a court finding about every acquisition in Telangana. Later court decisions addressed different projects and specific legal disputes.
What the 2013 law was designed to protect
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 replaced the 1894 acquisition law. It permits acquisition for a legally recognized public purpose, but ties that power to safeguards concerning social impact, participation, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R), transparency, and accountability.
In a later Telangana High Court decision, the court summarized the framework as requiring a recognized public purpose, social-impact assessment, compensation alongside R&R, and transparency safeguards. It stated: “The existence of a public purpose alone does not justify acquisition. The acquisition must also satisfy the substantive and procedural safeguards consciously incorporated by Parliament.”
Social-impact assessment and public participation
Telangana’s 2014 rules require social-impact work to consult local bodies, hold a public hearing, record affected families’ views, and make assessment documents available in Telugu and through specified government offices. The assessment is to consider alternatives, minimum land requirements, multi-cropped land and food security, affected or displaced families, social impacts, and mitigation measures.
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These steps are not merely paperwork: they are intended to expose who bears the costs of a project, whether a less harmful option exists, and what measures affected people need. The applicable process can depend on the project, the acquisition route, and the law in force at the relevant time.
Why Hyderabad Pharma City became the test case
Faustina Johnson’s November 23, 2022 Scroll.in investigation examined land acquisition for the proposed Hyderabad Pharma City industrial park outside Hyderabad. It reported that Telangana began pursuing land for the project in 2014 and initially relied on government orders, including Orders 45 and 123, and negotiated-purchase procedures rather than the 2013 statute’s ordinary acquisition process.
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According to the investigation, residents interviewed said officials pressured them to sign agreements. Some residents said they believed the government could take assigned land back regardless, while the orders did not address compensation and rehabilitation for landless residents. Sociologist Michael Levien, quoted in the story, summarized the concern: “Consent is not valid when it is not a real choice to keep land.” That is an analytical comment on the conditions of consent, not a judicial finding about every transaction in the project.
Activist Saraswati Kavula asked, “How can they take people’s land without submitting the EIA, even before conducting the public hearing?” The question captures concerns raised in the reporting; it should not be read as a court’s conclusion that every relevant acquisition lacked required environmental or public-hearing steps.
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What was alleged, and what was not established
Scroll.in reported delays in environmental-impact documentation, changing estimates of the project’s land area, pollution concerns, and residents’ view that local-employment promises were vague or undocumented. These are accounts and concerns reported in 2022, not verified statements of the project’s present status. The investigation’s evidence does not establish that a court ruled all the reported conduct unlawful, nor does it establish the current status of litigation concerning Pharma City.
How statutory acquisition differs from negotiated purchase or an exemption
The routes can differ in whether social-impact steps apply, how agreement is reached, and what compensation or R&R is due. The exact answer depends on the project and governing provisions; the table separates what the cited material establishes from what it does not specify.
| Route | Assessment and participation | Consent, notice, or objections | Compensation and R&R | What the cited cases establish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary process under the 2013 Act and Telangana’s 2014 rules | Telangana’s rules require local-body consultation, a public hearing, recording affected families’ views, and disclosure of assessment documents in Telugu through specified offices. | The rules require a public hearing and consideration of affected families’ views; the specific notice and objection procedure is not stated in the cited material. | The 2013 framework addresses compensation and R&R; the applicable amount depends on the case and is not stated here. | A Telangana High Court decision described public purpose and procedural and substantive safeguards as jointly necessary. |
| Negotiated purchase or consent award | Scroll.in reported that government orders and negotiated procedures were used in the Pharma City land process. Whether a particular transaction required an SIA or hearing depends on the applicable provision and facts; the cited reporting does not establish that for every parcel. | The Pharma City investigation reported residents’ claims of pressure to sign. A 2023 High Court batch concerning other projects involved negotiated or consent awards; it did not decide the Pharma City allegations. | In that 2023 batch, the High Court held that the petitioners were entitled to compensation under the 2013 Act and lump-sum R&R under Section 31-A of the Telangana amendment, and directed recalculation after finding no material showing that the R&R payment had been made to them. | The 2023 ruling concerned the petitioners and acquisitions before that bench; it is not a blanket ruling on negotiated purchases in Telangana. |
| Section 10A exemption | The cited 2026 High Court ruling set aside a Section 10A exemption that had relieved the acquisition before it from Chapters II and III. It treated demonstrable public interest as central to whether those chapters could be bypassed. | Project-specific notice and objection details are not stated in the cited material. | Project-specific compensation and R&R determinations are not stated in the cited material. | The ruling shows that a particular exemption can be judicially reviewed; it does not establish that every Section 10A exemption is unlawful. |
What Telangana changed in 2017—and what the later cases say
A 2017 Telangana amendment added Sections 30-A and 31-A, according to the later High Court case record. Scroll.in reported that the amendment changed rules concerning social-impact assessment for certain project categories, negotiated purchases, lump-sum R&R payments, and the return of unused acquired land. These changes should be understood through the statutory text and the project-specific rules in force at the time, not as proof that every acquisition was exempt from every safeguard.
In a 2023 batch of irrigation-project cases involving negotiated or consent awards, the Telangana High Court held that the petitioners were entitled to compensation under the 2013 Act and lump-sum R&R amounts under Section 31-A. The court noted that a 2015 government order had deleted wording about R&R costs, found no material that the petitioners had received the lump-sum R&R payment, and directed recalculation. That decision concerns the petitioners in those cases, not all land acquisitions in the state.
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In a separate 2026 batch involving negotiated purchases for the Komuravelli Mallannasagar Reservoir Project, the High Court directed authorities to hear each petitioner and consider eligibility for R&R benefits. The case included competing positions from petitioners and respondents; the direction was case-specific and does not itself prove the Pharma City allegations.
Another 2026 High Court decision set aside a Section 10A exemption and consequential acquisition notification in the matter before it. The court considered whether the state had demonstrated public interest sufficient to bypass Chapters II and III. That judgment is evidence that exemptions are reviewable in particular cases, not a universal invalidation of the state amendment or every exemption made under it.
How to read the land and jobs figures
The figures published in the 2022 investigation refer to different estimates at different dates. They should not be treated as current totals or as directly comparable measures.
| Figure | What it referred to | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 19,330 acres | Scroll.in’s then-current estimate of the proposed Pharma City land area | Reported in 2022; not established as a current project-area figure. |
| 6,910 acres | First phase of acquisition | Scroll.in cited a 2017 news report for this figure. |
| About 7,000 acres | Plotted industrial land needs in an environmental-impact submission | Scroll.in described the 2017 submission as estimating this amount. |
| 5.06 lakh jobs | Employment figure promoted by the government for the project | Reported by Scroll.in in 2022 as a promoted estimate, not verified employment. |
The acreage estimates describe different things and the reporting says project-area figures changed over time. The cited material does not establish a current project-area total or current jobs figure.
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The central issue is the gap between having authority to acquire land for a public purpose and complying with the safeguards attached to that authority. Scroll.in’s 2022 reporting raised questions about how consent was obtained, whose losses were counted, and whether statutory steps were avoided in the Pharma City process. Subsequent High Court decisions show that compensation, R&R, and exemptions have been litigated in other, specific acquisition disputes.
Quick Recap
- The Pharma City claims remain claims reported by Scroll.in unless established in a relevant case; the cited decisions do not decide them.
- The 2023 and 2026 decisions concern other projects and the petitioners in those cases.
- The current procedural status of Pharma City litigation and broader challenges to state amendments is not established by the cited material.
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