High Court reviews land allotment to Cognizant in Vizag amid incentive debate

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has supported the land allotments made for Cognizant to set up it office in Visakhapatnam. The allocation at a token rate of Rs 0.99 per acre has drawn attention to the larger issue of balancing industrial incentives with public interest.

On 13 August 2025, a bench led by Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Ravi Cheemalapati noted that offering incentives to major IT firms should not be seen as a financial loss through subsidised land allocations but as part of a bigger picture of job creation. The bench cautioned that without such measures, Andhra Pradesh risks losing investments to cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The case was brought to the court through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by N N Grace, President of the Society for Protection of Civil Properties and Environment, Visakhapatnam chapter. The PIL challenged the allotment of land to Cognizant at a highly discounted rate of just Rs 0.99 per acre at the IT Hill in Vizag. The land, according to petitioner’s counsel Jada Sravan, holds an estimated market value of Rs 1,109 crore. He argued that this allotment violates Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) rules, which do not permit such sales at negligible cost.

Defending the state government’s decision to allocate land to Cognizant in Vizag, special government pleader S Pranati stated that the allotments were made strictly under the framework of the state’s industrial policy. She further requested additional time to file detailed counterarguments on behalf of the government in connection with other similar petitions questioning the land allotments for Cognizant in Visakhapatnam.

The court has now tagged this matter along with other ongoing petitions that counter land allotments made to leading firms, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and the LuLu Group.

Also read: Upcoming PM Ekta Mall in Visakhapatnam to feature 99 ODOP items, completion by May 2026

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