Andhra HC puts Lanco skyscraper on hold

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has in an interim order directed Lanco and real estate developer Emaar Properties to stop work on two projects in plots belonging to the Wakf board. The court found that the construction was going on in Wakf land and the state Government has erroneously allotted the land to the companies.

Lanco was in the process of constructing an IT park, which when completed would have been the tallest building in India with close to 100 storeys, while Emaar is developing a Golden City at Rajendranagar Mandal near here. The single-member Bench of Justice V Eswaraiah ruled that the two companies could not make any construction in the notified lands situated at Rajendranagar Mandal, Ranga Reddy District. The directions came over a petition filed by Syed Ali, a Member of Legislative Council, who had requested the state to protect the Wakf land. “I am of prima facie opinion that the said property belongs to Almighty God and God alone is the owner of the said property, not the Government,”Eswaraiah said.