Hydraa Fences Journalists 38-Acre Housing Society Land

Hyderabad: The HYDRAA on Wednesday erected a fence around 38 acres of government land allotted to Jawaharlal Nehru Journalists Housing Society in Sy No. 25/2 of Pet Basheerabad in Medchal-Malkajgiri district, following large-scale encroachments coming up on the land.

Following instructions from HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath, a joint inspection was done by HYDRAA along with officials from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and district collectorate, during which it was found that some structures had also come up. “Though the government allotted land to the journalists’ society, individual allotments could not be taken up due to legal cases,” HYDRAA said in an official press release. The society, besides the HMDA, and the revenue department, complained to the agency against these encroachments and sought protection for the land.

The Hydraa made it clear that it did not disturb the existing houses but only erected a fence for open land. A thorough verification of the records would be taken up in case of existing houses and land will be protected till the legal issues are resolved, said HYDRAA.

Putting an end to decades-old boundary disputes over the land, the state government issued GO Ms No. 786 way back in 1991, declaring that the land falls in Sy No. 25/2 of Pet Basheerabad and not in Sy No. 104 of Kompally, as stated by some people claiming to be legal heirs of the Nizam. The GO was challenged in WP WP 14931 of 1991 and again in WP 12223 of 1991 but both cases were dismissed in favour of State government.

The High Court appreciated whole facts and conclusively decided that the land is located in Pet Basheerabad and not Kompally and that the land belongs to the state. A division bench headed by Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court also dismissed the writ appeal filed against the verdict in WP 12223 of 1991.

Meanwhile, encroachers claiming transfer of ownership from the Nizam’s legal heirs raised a few structures but lost title suit in OS 26 of 2011 on April 18, 2019. The civil court categorically stated that neither the petitioner (encroachers) nor the ones who gifted or sold land to them enjoy any title over the land.

Revenue officials said these encroachers had been filing cases in different names in the High Court after losing previous round of litigation through fabricated documents. In one case, the encroachers claimed that the Revenue Divisional Officer issued an Occupancy Rights Certificate proceedings but a thorough inquiry revealed that the ORC proceedings were fabricated.