Decks cleared for Sainik School in Chittoor district

Decks have been cleared for establishment of a Sainik School, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s pet project, at Kalikiri in Chittoor district.

The defence ministry and the board of governors of the Sainik Schools Society have accorded permission for the Rs 50-crore school.

The government initiated the process to allot land to the school by taking back 80 acres of the assigned lands from the assignees by paying them Rs 5 lakh each as compensation.

Veeraballi Venkata Sidda Reddy and four other assignees moved the High Court questioning private land acquisition by payment of compensation. Private lands can be acquired only by invoking proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, they argued.

The government informed the court that the lands were assigned lands and most of the assignees received the compensation and handed over the possession and certain assignees filed their objections before the RDO and their pleas were rejected, and then they filed revision petition before the district collector. The latter confirmed the RDO’s finding that the lands belonged to the government. The appeals of certain assignees were pending before the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration.