Nadergul Land Row: AQ Square Realtors Rebuts Harish Rao, Cites 2015 SC Order Confirming Private Ownership

Hyderabad: AQ Square Realtors Pvt. Ltd on Sunday said that the Supreme Court had turned down the state government’s ownership claims over 373.22 acres of land in Survey No. 613 in Nadergul on the city outskirts, and confirmed title in favour of private parties way back in 2015.

Reacting to former minister T. Harish Rao’s allegations that AQ Square Realtors and a few other companies belonging to revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy had encroached on government land, the company, in a statement, said the minister’s son Harsha Reddy had earlier served as additional director but had resigned in January 2023. The company also maintained that it erected blue sheets around the property in 2021, when the BRS was in power.

According to the statement, the land belonged to one Raja Shiva Raj Bahadur and a civil suit, OS No. 155 of 2005, was filed for declaration of title and perpetual injunction against state government but the same was dismissed by the trial court. The private parties challenged the trial court order in the High Court which in 2011 confirmed title in favour of Shiva Raj. The state government filed appeal in the Supreme Court, which dismissed it in favour of the legal heirs of Shiva Raj.

The company also dismissed the contention that the land should have been taken over by the state by invoking provisions of land reforms Act. The Land Reforms Act cannot be applied to the said land because it was recorded as “pot kharab” (unfit for agriculture) and that it fell in the urban agglomeration. The matter was subjudice till 2015, it pointed out.

The government cannot take possession of the land as the Supreme Court recognised the possession of the private parties and dismissed the review petitions filed by the state government, it said. The High Court also directed the state government to comply with the SC order, said the statement.