Brahmani Infratech has offered to surrender 250 acres of land that it had acquired from the government to set up an IT Special Economic Zone.
The company, in which the Navabharat Group holds a major stake, had wanted the government to extend the time limit to complete the project to 2021 or allow it to surrender the land. The government had sold the land at Rs 26 lakh per acre to the company during former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s tenure. Brahmani’s move will have far-reaching consequences as the government, if it takes back the land, will have to decide on two other projects, promoted by Raheja and Indu.
APIIC had advised state to take back SEZ land
Sources told this newspaper that the Navabharat’s offer to surrender 250 acre of land came after it got into a legal tangle with Mantri Developers, a Bengaluru-based company, which had entered into a joint development agreement with a specific clause that the latter could “convey” about 70 per cent property.
The company had put surrendering the land high on its agenda at its recent annual general body meeting. It explained that the project did not take off initially due to delays in clearances from various authorities including the AAI. Brahmani informed the government that by the time the local issues were sorted out, recession hit the world economy and impacted the IT sector. Sources said the company sent a letter to IT&C department in this regard.
While the IT&C is the agreement holder with the three companies for the SEZ projects, the APIIC) is the nodal agency and had registered the land, which is in its possession, to the three companies. APIIC had recommended to the government to take back the lands more than a year ago when it was found that the companies had not implemented the projects.
Sources said that the state agencies concerned are in favour of taking back the land. “The company has already failed to honour its commitments; where is the guarantee that it will implement the project by 2021?” a senior official asked, adding that the value of the land would increase because of its location near the international airport.