Hyderabad: Old grants crumble as defence, owners spar

HYDERABAD: While going on the Rajiv Rahadari highway from Secunderabad to Shamirpet, one can spot huge old bungalows in Bollarum, some of which are in a dilapidated state and some deserted because they are unliveable. 

You see similar old buildings with compound walls and huge open spaces in Bowenpally and Mudfort too. These bungalows located on land ranging from 2.5 acres to nearly 20 acres, are termed as Old Grants in records of the Defence Estates Office of Secunderabad. 

Most of the bungalows and lands belong to private individuals, but the Defence establishment claims they are just residents and the land ownership is with the Union government. 

This land ownership row has placed the families residing in these bungalows in a helpless situation. They are not given permission by the Cantonment authorities to carry out any construction work, or even any repair work, even if the structure is weak.

Take the case of building number 215 in which Dr Kamal Syed’s family resides. According to the doctor, his family has owned the property for many generations, but the Defence authorities claim that it is their land.

“SCB officials demolished a shed on our property without issuing any notice or giving any explanation two years ago. How can they act unilaterally, denying property owners their basic rights? Many families are being made to suffer for no fault of theirs,” he said.

Dr Syed recalls that the army lost a court case some three decades ago after it took a portion of the bungalow on rent and then refused to vacate. They had to move out after the courts intervened.

Venu Musham’s family had a similar experience. His family stays in bungalow no 187. He says the bungalow, located on 2.5 acres, is private property and he has records of how it was mortgaged by a bank in 1920 to recover money from the then property owner who defaulted on a loan. “How can a private property that has documented history of nearly a hundred years be claimed by the Defence as their own?” he questions.  

Mr Musham’s family, taking the help of local MP Malla Reddy, lodged a complaint with the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar  about local military authorities and Defence officials threatening the family to vacate the premises and barging into their bungalows.

Unlike other cantonments, Law not applicable to city 

There are nearly 150 to 200 bungalows that are shown as Old Grants in the GLR (General Lands Register) of Secunderabad Cantonment. 

However, the Secunderabad Cantonment Residents Welfare Association says there are no papers to prove the existence of Old Grants in Hyderabad state which was under the Nizam’s rule, unlike other Cantonments in India where the British were at the helm of affairs.

According to M.L. Agarwal, the president of the Secunderabad Cantonment Residents’ Welfare Association, the British just served as security for the Nizam’s regime and they had no ownership of lands whatsoever.

The Nizam moved the Cantonment (where the army is stationed) from the main city to Secunderabad in 1904. 

In August 1906, the then Resident of Hyderabad, a British appointee, gave a public notification in which it was clearly said that the rights and privileges enjoyed by the jagirdars, owners or occupiers of the land in the 13 villages in Secunderabad Cantonment will not be affected, Mr Agarwal said.

The Nizam too clearly told the British at the time that there are private lands in the area (where the Cantonment was moved to) and they had to negotiate with property owners if they wished to acquire the lands, Mr Agarwal added.

However, after the British left, Defence officials manipulated the records to show that the lion’s share of lands in the Cantonment belonged to the British and after they left the ownership lies with the Union government as per the Treaty of Accession, he said.

Moreover, if the lands in the Cantonment belong to the Union government, why did the government have to acquire the present Rashtrapati Nilayam in Bollarum by paying money to the Andhra Pradesh government as the latter owned the land? The property was the residence of the Hyderabad Resident (head of the British administration) and in 1956, the Centre bought it from the state to make it the President’s official winter residence.

Jitender Surana, vice-president of the Secunderabad Cantonment Residents Welfare Association pointed to various discrepancies when it comes to the Old Grants issue.

He said a 1981 letter written by the military estates officer D. K. Reddy to the Southern Command, Pune, and Defence ministry officials in New Delhi states that in 1933-34 in the GLR prepared by Capt. James, a British special officer, the lands were shown not to be under the management of the British and a remark was entered saying the authority for occupation of the site in not known.

But in the GLR prepared in 1955-56, all these sites were shown as Old Grant and remarks were omitted, obviously on the presumption made in British Cantonments that in the absence of proof to the contrary, all lands must be held belonged to the government and deemed to be held on Old Grant terms.
Mr Surana stressed that the GLR was the internal record of the Defence officials and it is not a standard document like revenue records.

“In the 1933 lands register, there was no mention of Old Grants. However, in the 1956 lands register, Old Grants list surfaced and all those property owners were listed as occupants with no right over land. How can an internal record (GLR) of defence that differs in both surveys be made binding on locals in the Cantonment?” he queries.

Ramesh C. Malani, who resides in Bungalow No.  181 said that the Old Grants law is not applicable to Hyderabad, unlike Cantonments in the rest of the country.

“When residents sought Old Grants documents from officials to back their claims, nothing was given. Also, in court cases involving bungalow ownership, including the seven bungalows acquired for extending the Begumpet Airport, the Defence lost, proving that all bungalow  lands are not owned by Defence,” he said.

Meanwhile, Defence Estates sources maintained that the land ownership pertaining to Old Grants in Secunderabad was with the Union government and not with private individuals.