HC Halts Action on Kondapur Land Claimed by HYDRAA

Hyderabad: Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed HYDRAA to maintain status quo over land alleged to be illegally fenced at Kondapur, Serilingampally mandal. The judge was dealing with a writ plea filed by G. Narasimha Reddy questioning the action of the revenue authorities and the HYDRAA in erecting fencing and putting up a public signboard over 4.23 acres in Survey No.s 83 (part) and 84 (part), declaring the land as designated college land protected by HYDRAA. He contended that the action was taken without notice and without following due procedure.

Senior counsel Mayur Reddy, arguing for the petitioner, contended that any urban land ceiling (ULC) proceedings in respect of the subject land were no longer operative. He argued that High Court had earlier recorded that such proceedings did not survive and that possession was never taken by the state. Therefore, the land could not be treated as government land. He argued that the petitioner continued in physical possession pursuant to civil court decrees and police aid orders granted in earlier litigation. Standing counsel, however, contended that the ULC proceedings were not quashed and that their validity subsisted. Considering the rival submissions and the fact that a HYDRAA signboard was erected over the property, the judge directed the parties to maintain status quo until the respondents file their counter.

IIM aspirant moves HC for interview

Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka of the Telangana High Court heard a writ petition challenging denial of personal interview to an aspiring MBA student at Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai. Kataru Satya Sai challenged the shortlisting process adopted by IIM-Mumbai and non-inclusion of his name in the shortlist for the personal interview round. He contended that despite securing a higher percentile in CAT-2025 under the general category, he was not shortlisted, whereas candidates with lower percentiles under the same category were allegedly included in violation of the prescribed admission policy. Earlier the judge directed the college to permit the student to appear for interview.

On Tuesday, challenging the interim direction, a vacate petition was filed raising a preliminary objection regarding maintainability on the ground of lack of territorial jurisdiction. It was argued that IIM-Mumbai did not qualify as a “state” under Article 12 of the Constitution of India and, therefore, no writ petition would lie against it under Article 226. They contended that the cause of action arose wholly in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and that the Telangana High Court has no territorial jurisdiction. While acknowledging that IIM Mumbai was declared a national institute under the Indian Institute of Management Act, 2017, the respondents argued that it functioned as an autonomous institution, formerly known as NITIE (National Institute of Industrial Engineering), without pervasive governmental control and therefore did not fall within the ambit of “state”. Refuting allegations of discrimination, the respondents pointed out that the candidates cited by the petitioner had secured more than 93.50 percentile in data interpretation and logical reasoning with overall percentiles of 95.04 and 96.3 respectively and had cleared both section-wise and overall cut-offs. Hence, the petitioner could not claim parity. The institute stated that there was no obligation to publish a provisional Stage II (PI) shortlist and denied any deviation from the published admission policy. It was alleged that the petitioner was attempting to secure a “backdoor” entry into Stage II. The judge refused to intervene with earlier interim order at this stage and directed the petitioners to come up with a response.

HC directs appointment of person-in-charge to toddy tappers association

Justice T. Madhavi Devi of the Telangana High Court upheld an order of the Cooperative Tribunal setting aside the 2022 elections to the Toddy Tappers Cooperative Society, Chintalbasti, and directed immediate appointment of a person-in-charge to conduct fresh elections within three months. The judge dismissed the writ petition filed by the society challenging the order of the tribunal and allowed the connected writ petition seeking constitution of an interim administrative body. Earlier, the tribunal faulted the election on the premise that the voters list with new additions and deletions was given effect to without calling for objections as mandated by law. It faulted the election for being contrary to the statutory rules. Justice Madhavi Devi said there was no material or reason to intervene in the findings of tribunal. Accordingly, the registrar was directed to appoint a person-in-charge forthwith, and the existing committee was ordered to hand over all records to facilitate completion of the election process within the stipulated period.