Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the Enforcement Directorate, Hyderabad, authorities to release the two pieces of lands belonging to Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor (Vanpic) project which were attached by it in a case registered under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Pronouncing verdict in a Civil Miscellaneous Second Appeal filed by Vanpic project, a bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Surepalli Nanda said the ED Appellate Tribunal was correct in holding that the ED Adjudicating Authority’s confirmation of the attachment of properties “suffered from fundamental flaws”. The AT erred in relegating Vanpic project to the Special Court to seek release of the attached property.
This amounted to AA abdicating its authority and allowing an illegality to continue, the judgement said. Vanpic is a special purpose vehicle conceptualised between the AP government and the government of Ras al Khaimah, one of the emirates of United Arab Emirates. To execute the project, it acquired 13,221.69 acres of land, which included assigned and patta lands.
