SC Declares 102-Acre Gurramguda Land as Forest

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Thursday declared that around 102 acres of land in Survey No. 201/1 of Sahebnagar Kalan village, Hayathnagar mandal, Rangareddy district, belong to the government.

The court also directed the state Chief Secretary to issue a final notification declaring the land worth more than ₹4,000 crore as a reserved forest under Section 15 of the Telangana Forest Act within eight weeks. The proposal has been pending since 1971.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti has allowed the civil appeal filed by Telangana in the long-pending Sahebnagar Kalan (Gurramguda Reserve Forest) case, settling a decades-old dispute over the land by setting aside the orders of the forest settlement officer, the Rangareddy district court and the Telangana High Court.

The bench upheld the state government’s stand that it owns the disputed land and that belated private claims over notified forest land are legally unsustainable. The court also directed the Chief Secretary to submit the compliance report before the apex court’s registry.

The apex court examined the legal trajectory of the dispute, which originated from claims filed in 2005 by the legal representatives of Mir Jaffar Ali Khan, asserting succession rights through Salar Jung III. These claims were based on historical sale deeds, alleged release orders of the Jagir Administrator and entries in revenue records.

After a detailed scrutiny of the Hyderabad (Abolition of Jagirs) Regulation, the Atiyat Enquiries Act, the Abolition of Inams Act and the Telangana Forest Act, the Supreme Court concluded that the land vested in the government due to the abolition of Jagirs.

The apex court also held that Arazi-Makta lands could not be treated as self-acquired private property and that the forest settlement officer had exceeded his jurisdiction in adjudicating title and condoning an extraordinary delay of over five decades.

The forest department placed the record through the Ranga Reddy district forest officer Rohith Gopidi and advocate-on-record Karnam Shravan Kumar. Senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, Justice (retd.) Challa Kodandaram, additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati appeared on behalf of the state government.

The Telangana High Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition filed by the Heera Group director Nowhera Shaik, seeking to stall the Enforcement Directorate’s proposed auction of attached properties. As exemplary costs, the court also ordered the petitioners to deposit ₹5 crore with the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund within eight weeks.

Taking a serious view of the petition, Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka noted that the Supreme Court had already rejected the appeals filed by the petitioners, thereby granting clear permission to the ED to proceed with the attachment and auction of the properties. In view of the apex court’s categorical directions, the High Court questioned the maintainability of the petition and observed that the matter had already reached finality.

The court recorded that the Supreme Court, while disposing of the earlier proceedings, had reiterated that the ED was at liberty to continue with the attachment of all properties belonging to the accused and to auction them as per the statutory framework. The court expressed concern over the repeated attempts by the petitioners to re-agitate settled issues before the High Court, despite clear pronouncements from the highest court of the country.

The writ petition was moved through a lunch motion challenging the ED’s decision to auction 59 properties towards the end of December 2025, with the auction scheduled for December 26.

The petitioners contended that the auction process was illegal and contrary to the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), alleging that no formal confiscation order had been passed by the competent special court.

They also raised objections to the reserve prices, claiming that the properties were being auctioned at rates substantially lower than their market value, and pointed out that the confirmation of attachment had taken place while Nowhera Shaik was in judicial custody.

The court, however, found no merit in these submissions, particularly in light of the binding directions issued by the Supreme Court and imposed costs of `5 crore, observing that such repeated and unwarranted litigation amounted to an abuse of the process of law. The petition was accordingly dismissed, clearing the way for the Enforcement Directorate to proceed with the scheduled auction.