Top officials negligent, must face disciplinary action: Hyderabad HC
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has directed the TS government to initiate disciplinary action against former collector Naveen Mittal, former joint-collector V. Durga Das, former special tahsildar V.V. Venkat Reddy, senior draftsman P. Madhusudhan Reddy and one P. Babu Rao for issuing no-objection certificate for a disputed property.
Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao, while allowing two petitions by one Shanti Agarwal a resident of the city observed: “In my opinion, members of the NOC Committee clearly did not act in a bona fide manner and seemed to believe that they have no responsibility to check even the genuineness of the documents produced before them by the applicant for NOC.”
The petitioner claimed she had purchased 5,262 sq. yd at Nanal Nagar in Gudimalkapur area of the city. This was originally an evacuee property and was purchased by one Prem Malhotra in an auction conducted by the Managing Officer, Regional Settlement Commission, Bombay. The land changed hands and she purchased it from K. Devi and Basanth Devi in 1965.
She said one Syed Abdul Rab and two others had in 2009 applied for NOC from the committee, headed by the collector, to obtain permission from GHMC to construct sheds claiming that they were owners.
When this came to her notice, Shanti Devi filed objections, complaining that the documents produced by Abdul Rub and others were fabricated.
After perusing documents, the judge noted the counter-affidavit filed by the district collector on November 19, 2011. It was clearly stated that the joint sub-registrar, Hyderabad, had addressed a letter to the collector on September 3, 2011, stating that the documents produced for NOC did not tally with their records.
The judge held that the conduct of the NOC Committee members and of P. Babu Rao, respondent No. 11, needs to be probed by the Chief Secretary and appropriate disciplinary action needs to be initiated. While declaring the NOCs issued by the committee null and void, the judge directed Mittal, Das, Reddy and Madhusudhan to pay '25,000 jointly to the petitioner. Abdul Rab and two others were also told to pay '25,000 as costs to the petitioner.
The judge ordered the Chief Secretary and Secretary of Revenue to initiate prosecution against Abdul Rab and two others for producing fabricated/forged documents before the NOC Committee.
The Chief Commissioner of Land Administration has been told attach the property till the dispute is resolved.
The judge dismissed a petition by one Hussain Bee and 11 others challenging the cancellation of NOCs in November 2015, claiming that they were property owners. The judge directed the petitioners to pay Rs 10,000 to Shanti Devi.
