Hyderabad: In a setback to the Telangana state government, the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday quashed the government orders issued to lease the land belonging to the Victoria Memorial Home to construct the Rachakonda police commissionerate in Saroornagar. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G. Shyam Prasad was giving its order on a PIL filed by L. Buchi Reddy, president of VM Home Orphan Old Students Association, challenging the decision of the government to lease 10 acres belonging to VM Home to the Rachakonda police for 11 years.
The bench after hearing senior counsel Sarasani Satyam Reddy, who was representing Mr Buchi Reddy, and special government counsel A. Sanjeev Kumar held that the government cannot act as per its whims and fancies with regard to endowment lands. VM Home was established on 73 acres of land by the Nizam VI Mir Mahbub Ali Khan in 1903 with the main objective of educating orphans belonging to erstwhile State of Hyderabad.
The bench said that the endowments commissioner is empowered to lease the land for three years; the government could give the land on lease for five years. For periods more than five years, the lease had to be done through an open auction. The bench said the lease was in violation of the law. The bench said that the board of an endowment trust is empowered to grant permission to the state government to lease its land. In this case no record was found to show that the government had requested permission nor the trust board permitting the lease.
Justice Ranganathan and Justice Prasad said the state government was only a trustee of the endowments lands and no power to take it over. If it required the land, it could take it by paying compensation. The bench said that it appeared that the episode was run by the government with a view to taking over the land. Finding fault with the government for fixing meagre rent, the bench quashed the GO Ms No. 48 dated August 11, 2017, and GO Ms No. 50 dated August 23.
Digitise Wakf records in six weeks: HC
The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Telangana state government to complete the digitalisation of Wakf records within six weeks and handover them to the Wakf Board. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G. Shyam Prasad was disposing of a PIL filed by city advocate M.A.K. Mukheed challenging the sealing the office of the Wakf Board office and seizing records.
Observing that the government had no power to seize or seal the office, the bench said that the court could not find fault with the officials in view of the submission of the state government that it had sealed the office to protect Wakf properties. Advocate-General D. Prakash Reddy said that only one room of the board, where the land records were stored, was under the government’s custody. The board was allowed to function from the remaining rooms. He told the court that four to six weeks were required to complete the digitalisation of Wakf records. Senior counsel Muqeeth Qureshi, representing the petitioner, submitted that the intervention of the government in Wakf Board affairs cannot be permitted as it would lead to hushing up or disappearance of records of valuable land parcels. Stating that though the procedure adopted by the authorities may be wrong, the bench said the ultimate aim of the government is to protect the lands.
