Telangana HC Questions Passbooks Issued on Prohibited Land

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday questioned the government the basis on which it had issued pattadar passbooks to private parties for land in Survey No.s 194 and 195 at Nagaram, when it had been placed in the prohibitory list in 2018.

The court directed government counsel for revenue Katram Muralidhar Reddy to obtain information from the revenue department and Rangareddy district collector and inform the court by Tuesday.

Justice K. Lakshman was dealing with a petition filed by Birla Mallesh seeking disciplinary and criminal action against Tenmozhi Subramaniam, then tahsildar of Maheshwaram, who issued pattadar passbooks in the names of Abdul Javeed, Arshiya Sultana, Abdul Lateef and others for 50 acres of land in the two survey numbers in Nagaram of Maheshwaram mandal.

About 700 acres in Survey No.s 194 and 195 had been mentioned as government land and placed in the prohibition list so as not to be alienated till February 2019, until it was re-notified to be deleted from the list. But, the then tahsildar in April 2018 issued pattas to the private persons through their names were never mentioned in the revenue records until the passbooks were issued.

Counsel for the petitioner argued that in spite of the representation to take action against the then tahsildar, the revenue department including the Rangareddy district collector so far had not initiated action. Further, counsel informed the court that based on the passbooks, several transactions had taken place on the land, and it became controversial with reports that several IAS and IPS officers had purchased properties in Survey No. 194.