Bhoodan Lands: HC Seeks Police Stand on ED Findings

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday directed government counsel to obtain instructions from the Maheshwaram police on the communication reportedly received from the Enforcement Directorate suggesting further action against the perpetrators over alleged misappropriations in the transfer of Bhoodan land and land parcels in the prohibited list in Nagaram village of Maheshwaram mandal, Rangareddy district.

Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar issued the direction while dealing with a petition filed by Dastagir Shareef, claiming ownership over the some portion of land in Survey No. 181 and others in Nagaram. Shareef had filed the petition before the High Court alleging that the Maheshwaram police had not initiated any action or probe into the conspiracy and fraudulent action brought out by the ED in the alleged transfer of the land parcels. He submitted that the police did not disclose their contentions on the communication received from the ED.

According to the petitioner , on February 14, 2024, the Enforcement Directorate, Hyderabad, sent a communication to the Maheshwaram DCP stating that in its preliminary inquiry, it had found fabrication of documents, forgery and manipulation of revenue records and involvement of the government officials in the transactions. Further, the ED asked the DCP to take further action, Shareef said.

The petitioner also submitted to the court that he had submitted a representation to the DCP and the inspector of Maheshwaram police requesting further action based on the ED`s communication. As the police did not respond, the petitioner approached the High Court.

Justice Shravan Kumar gave government counsel a week time to obtain instructions from the police and submit their contentions on the petition.

Strays: Lokayukta refers to DC report

Hyderabad: The Lokayukta took up as a suo motu complaint, the issue of stray dog menace in Warangal based on a report published in Deccan Chronicle on Monday, and directed the commissioner of the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) to furnish a report on the recent incident of dog bite.

Deccan Chornicle, in ‘Strays attack kid’, on October 27, had reported that a pack of stray dogs had attacked a seven-year-old girl at New Shayampet in Hanamkonda. The girl, who was walking alone with a cover in her hand, was surrounded and mauled by seven to eight dogs.

The child screamed for help as the dogs bit her and she was rescued by a passer-by. She sustained serious injuries. The attack was captured in a nearby CCTV camera.

Upon noticing the report, Lokayukta Justice A. Rajashekar Reddy (retd) on Monday directed the registry of the Lokayukta to register the case by taking up the Deccan Chornicle report as a suo motu complaint.

The Lokayukta directed the GWMC commissioner to file a detailed report on the incident and also about the stray dog menace and adjourned the hearing to November 11.

Petition challenges DGP’s appointment

Hyderabad: A writ petition has been filed before the Telangana High Court challenging the appointment of B. Shivdhar Reddy as Director General of Police (head of police force). The petition was kept pending at the scrutiny stage as the Registry of the High Court sought clarifications from petitioner Dhangopal Rao.

On Monday, the petition came up before a single bench headed Justice N. Tukaramji. The judge inquired whether the petitioner had complied with the objections raised by the Registry. The petitioner sought additional time to file the necessary clarifications. The petitioner relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the ‘Prakash Singh’ case, which held that no state government should appoint an acting or incharge DGP. The judge directed the registry to place the case before an appropriate bench that deals with service matters.

Nurses appointment: HC directs to release marks of 11 candidates

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court faulted the Medical and Health Services Recruitment Board for completing the recruitment for staff nurses posts mentioned in Notification -2022, without releasing the final marks, including the weightage component, of 11 candidates who had approached the court.

The petitioners had challenged the addendum dated June 12, 2023, issued to the 2022 recruitment notification, which replaced the earlier OMR-based test with a computer-based test (CBT) and introduced a system of mark normalisation. Alleging that their marks were adversely affected after normalization, and that weightage benefits were wrongly given to both regular and outsourced nurses, the petitioners also opposed the subsequent increase in vacancies from 5,204 to 7,094 posts.

The board defended its addendum and argued that the petitioners should have challenged it as soon as it was issued. Without doing so, they waited for normalisation marks. After getting lower marks, the petitioners’ approached the court, the board said. The court directed the board to disclose the final marks of the petitioners and examine their eligibility for appointment against any unfilled posts, in accordance with legal provisions.