PIL Filed Seeking to Resume 37 Acres Land from Vasavi Realtors at LB Nagar
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has issued notices in a public interest litigation challenging the construction of multistorey apartments and villas in 37 acres of land near the LB Nagar Metro Rail station by the Vasavi Group in the name of Ananda Nilayam.
Chekka Ashok Kumar, a resident of Gunti Jangaiah Colony of LB Nagar, said that the land in Survey No.s 9/4 (Old Sy No. 9/1) at Saroornagar and 49/13B (Old Sy No. 49/13), Bahadurguda, Rangareddy district, was assigned in 1966 and was under the prohibition list that prevented its registration under Section 22-A of the Registration Act.
On March 13, 2021, the petitioner said, the Rangareddy district collector and registration department removed the land from the prohibition list, through a letter (LC2/1498/2005), without assigning any reason. As it was assigned land, the petitioner requested the court to quash the proceeding, and direct the collector and revenue authorities to take over the land for violation of Rule 6 of Board Standing Orders (BSO).
The High Court issued notices to the government authorities and private parties like Vasavi Group and others to respond.
According to the petitioner, the government of undivided AP had assigned the land to South India Research Institute Private Limited (Siris) and others, under GO MS No. 1213 of the revenue department dated 09-08-1965. He submitted that the land was allotted at the price of `3,000 per acre that year.
The petitioner said that as per Memorandum No. 5442-Q2/1965 of the revenue (Q) department, dated 02.03.1966, the land could only be used for public purposes. Until the issuance of the impugned order (LC2/1498/2005 of March 13, 2021), by the Rangareddy collector, transactions on the land were prohibited under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908.
The Rangareddy district registrar issued Memo No.5369/G1/2021 dated 16.04.2021, removing the land from the prohibition list and directed the Saroornagar sub-registrar to entertain registrations. Thereafter, the land was transferred to SR Infra and later to Vasavi Realtors, which started constructing residential complexes and collected money in advance on the name of pre-booking.
The petitioner mentioned in the PIL that GO 1213 of 1965 had clearly mentioned that the land must be used for public purposes and government officials were not taking any steps against it being used for residential purposes.
He submitted that the current market price of the property was estimated to be around `20,00 crore. This failure of officials to act would cause a significant loss to the government in terms of potential revenue and the opportunity to utilise the land for public welfare and development initiatives, petitioner submitted.
