SC Refuses To Vacate HC Stay On Shamshabad Land

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court has directed individuals claiming ownership of 100 acres of disputed land in Shamshabad against constructing any building or alienating or encumbering the property till the disposal of the appeal by the Telangana High Court.

The division bench comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma was dealing with a petition filed by Mohammad Taher Khan, who claimed the ownership of the land in survey .Nos.661, 662, 663, 664, 720, 721, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 732 and 775 at Shamshabad Paigah. HMDA, however, contended that it had acquired around 180 acres in the 1990s. When the objections raised for enhanced award amount, the Supreme Court in 2009 had ordered for enhancement.

During the arguments in April 2025, a Division Bench of the Telangana High Court had found that one of the judicial orders furnished by the Taher Khan was fabricated and directed the Charminar police for criminal charges against him and had directed the government to constitute SIT for a probe. The court had also issued status quo orders till the finalisation of the appeal.

Taher Khan said Justice N.D. Patnaik of the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued the order on April 29, 1988, in favor of pra High Court in April this year recalled that Justice Patnaik was elevated to the AP High Court only on December 28, 1988 and as such, he could not have passed the order on April 29, 1988.

After registration of the FIR, Taher Khan approached the Supreme Court seeking vacation of the High Court’s stay orders. The Supreme Court, however, refused to give relief to him and directed not to put any construction or alienation till the disposal of the appeal before the Telangana High Court.

The Telangana High Court imposed ₹5,000 of cost for each petition on the state government for its failure to file counter-affidavits in a batch of long-pending writ petitions challenging the utilisation of 42 acres land belonging to Bhagawan Sri Bala Sai Baba Central Trust at Kondapur and mutation of lands in various survey numbers at Kondapur.

One of the petitions also challenged the GO 45 issued by the Telangana government in relation to the management and administration of Hindu religious establishments and appointment of temple trust boards.

Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin observed that the state had shown utter disregard to repeated directions of the High Court and not filed counter-affidavits for a long time for 24 petitions. Four petitions are pending since 2006.

On October 29, the Bench granted the last chance to the government to file the counter. However, the counsel appearing for the state government has again sought time to file counter-affidavits, inviting strong displeasure from the bench.

Despite granting a “last opportunity”, the High Court bench said the state government failed to comply, which effectively stalled the commencement of final hearing for nearly 20 years.

Though the court granted three more weeks to file counter-affidavits, it ordered the state government to pay ₹5,000 in each petition to the Telangana State Legal Services Authority. The court also made it clear that no counter-affidavit would be accepted after January 9, 2026, and directed that any counter inadvertently entertained thereafter must be returned.

The petitioners were granted time until January 20, 2026, to file rejoinders, if any, while written submissions by all remaining parties were directed to be filed by January 31, 2026. Oral submissions were restricted to matters where written submissions had been duly filed.

The court further directed that objections to implead petitions in the batch must be filed by January 9, 2026. The registrar (judicial-I) was instructed to conduct due diligence in the first week of February 2026 to verify completion of pleadings and written submissions, prepare a detailed checklist in the prescribed format, and place the matter before the Bench for fixing dates of final hearing.