The Telangana High Court canceled the government’s decision to give 15 acres of land to a foundation run by BRS MP and Hetero Group Chairman B. Partha Saradhi Reddy to construct a cancer hospital. A court bench led by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan invalidated the Government Order (GO) passed in 2018 that allotted the land in Khanamet near Gachibowli to Sai Sindhu Foundation Trust. Dr. Urmila Pingle, Suresh Kumar, and others had filed a PIL against the allotment of the land for a nominal lease of Rs 1.47 lakh per year for 33 years. The petitioners argued that the land’s market value is over Rs 500 crore, but it was given away for a paltry lease amount.
The government had defended the allotment, stating that cancer fatalities are the second-highest in the country after heart attacks. The advocate general, B.S. Prasad, argued that the economic component could not be considered in this instance. Partha Saradhi Reddy is the CEO of Hetero Group and founder of Hetero Drugs, a Hyderabad-based generic pharmaceutical company. The BRS had nominated him as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections last year, and he won unopposed.
The court’s decision came after concerns were raised about the foundation’s chairman being charged with money laundering under PMLA. The District Collector’s report stated that the land’s market value is Rs 75,000 per sq yard, and its total value is over Rs 500 crore, while the annual lease amount is Rs 50 crore. The allotment was challenged on these grounds by Dr. Urmila Pingle, Suresh Kumar, and others.
