Hyderabad: HC Issued Directions To Stop The Misappropriation Of Deposits From The Court Accounts
Hanumanthu’s land of about 7.12 acres was acquired in 2008 for the construction of Ryalampad balancing reservoir: Reports
HYDERABAD: Taking serious note of the large-scale misappropriation of land acquisition compensation amounts that were deposited in the Civil Court Deposit (CCD) accounts in the District Judiciary, the Telangana High Court has directed the Registry to institute a stringent annual audit and reconciliation mechanism across district courts that handle the deposits.
The court’s instructions also included the yearly reconciliation of books of accounts and the comparison of the CCD account statements with registers and D-forms issued by the land acquisition officer at the time of the deposit. The Civil Court concerned must update the record every year and forward the compliance report to the Principal District Judge concerned, and the High Court Registry.
A division bench comprising Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda issued the directions while dealing with a writ petition filed by Kurva Hanumanthu, a project oustee, whose compensation amount was withheld owing to the exposure of a multi-crore court deposit scam in the Court of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Gadwal.
Hanumanthu’s land of about 7.12 acres was acquired in 2008 for the construction of Ryalampad balancing reservoir. The land acquisition officer did not pay him the compensation amount due to a dispute over the title of the land. The money was deposited at the Civil Court at Gadwal in 2012.
After several rounds of litigation before various courts, in 2017 Hanumanthu was declared owner of the land. The amount was not paid to him till 2026, against the backdrop of allegations that more than `3.08 crore was siphoned off from CCD accounts in the Gadwal court during the tenure of a former senior superintendent between 2015 and 2022 by alleged manipulation of court records and repayment registers.
Aggrieved over the non-payment, Hanumanthu approached the High Court. The court took serious note of the issue against the backdrop of administrative lapses, allowed the cheque petition filed by the petitioner and directed payment of the compensation amount along with the accrued interest within three months.
The court emphasised that judicial claimants, particularly land losers awaiting compensation, could not be made to suffer because of financial irregularities committed within the court administration. The bench directed that cheque petitions relating to compensation deposits should not be indefinitely withheld merely because of pending investigations, especially where the deposits predated the scam period and the entitlement of claimants had attained finality through judicial orders.
The court directed the ACB, Mahbubnagar range, to ensure that the amount which was recovered from the officer concerned, if any, shall be deposited to the credit of the CCD account of the Principal Civil Court concerned.