Hyderabad, Feb. 10 -- The Telangana High Court on Monday, February 9, clarified that the grant of pension, house sites, or other benefits to those who participated in the Telangana statehood movement falls solely within the government's discretion and cannot be mandated by the court in the absence of a clear policy.

Hearing a petition filed by G Nagaraju and eight others seeking directions to the state government to provide pensions and residential plots to Telangana movement participants, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy observed that no specific government policy currently exists to extend such benefits. In view of this, the court said it could not issue any binding orders.

Petitioner's arguments

During the hearing, counsel for the petitione...