IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA WRIT PETITION No. 20308 OF 2024

07.04.2026 Between:

Yandapalli Satyanarayana & others ….. Petitioners And The Union of India, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, New Delhi & others.

….. Respondents

O R D E R:

Petitioners contend that they are the absolute owners of lands situated in Regulachalaka Village, Raghunadhapalem Mandal, Khammam District, more particularly: (1) Yandapalli Satyanarayana, S/o. Venkaiah, owning lands in Sy. Nos (86 / A) / 2 88/Α/11/1, 89/Ε, 91 / A (92 / A) / 3 (92 / A) / 4 93/U, 95/A/1, 95/A/2, (95 / A) / 3 98/A/1 and 99/A/2; (2) Mareddy Sudharani, W/o Veeraiah, owning lands in Sy. Nos. (18 / A) / 1 89 / A 01/E, 92/A/1, 92/A/2, (6 / A) / 4 97/E, 100/E, 101 / U 103/A/3, 103/A/1 and 103/A/3; and (3) Koti Swathi, W/o Ramesh, owning lands in Sy. Nos. 18/A/4/1, 21/A/2. 92 / A 96/A/A5, 97/A, 97 / A (9 / A) / 1 (100 / A) / 1 101/E, 101 /U, 103/A/4 and 105/A, and that all the said lands contain black granite in huge quantity and the Petitioners hold valid mining licenses as evidenced by Ex.- P17.

1.1. Petitioners contend that they approached this Court seeking issuance of a writ of mandamus declaring the impugned Greenfield Highway NH-163G alignment covered by Gazette (Extraordinary) Notification No. S.O. 4407(E) dated 21.09.2022 issued under Section 3A(1) of the National Highways Act, 1956 and the consequential Notification No. S.O. 3928 dated 04.09.2023 issued under Section 3D(1) of the said Act in the stretch from Kim 203.8 to Km 220.48 as mala fide, illegal and violative of the National Highways Act. 1956, Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines, Guidelines on Land Acquisition for National Highways, Article 300A, principles of natural justice and Article 14 of the Constitution of India, and for consequential relief of restraining the respondents from proceeding further.

1.2. Petitioners further contend that as per the letter of NHAI Project Implementation Unit-I, Khammam dated 08.02.2024, the impugned Nagpur-Vijayawada NH-163G Greenfield Highway alignment was approved by NHAI oft 03.01.2019 and by the Land Acquisition Committee on 20.08.2020, and thereafter successive notifications under Section 3A(1) of the Act were issued, culminating in Notification No. S.O. 4407(E) dated 21.09.2022 and Notification under Section 3D dated 04.09.2023 covering a stretch of 16.6 km.

1.3. Petitioners also contend that they have been subjected to continuous uncertainty and mental agony from the year 2019 onwards on account of repeated notifications, and that though Section 3A(1) notifications lapse after one year, the Respondents have been reissuing notifications without justification, without taking into account changes on ground and concerns of stakeholders, and without repeating the entire process of survey and public consultation, thereby tendering the exercise arbitrary and contrary to the scheme of the Act.

1.4. Petitioners further contend that the District Collector, Khammam, by letter dated 17.05 2022 addressed to the 4th Respondent through the Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana, specifically pointed out that the impugned alignment was finalized without consultation with Khammam Municipality, Roads and Buildings Department and Gram Panchayats, and further highlighted that the State Government had paid Rs.1 Crore per acre in 2018 for construction of the new Collectorate, thereby indicating that the cost of acquisition for the impugned alignment would be exorbitantly high. The District Collector in the said letter further stated that the State Government had planned a ring road for Khammam and had released Rs.200 crores for land acquisition, and that the entire Khammam city falls within 15 km aerial distance from the project boundary, affecting nearly 5 lakh population, and further pointed out that the area had already become urbanized due to construction of the new Collectorate near V. Venkatayapalem and the proposed r