The event featured cricket, ball badminton and volleyball and saw enthusiastic participation of High Court officers and staff.
Hyderabad:Telangana High Court senior Judge Justice Sam Koshy inaugurated the sports tournament introduced for the first time for officers and staff members of the High Court , at the Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad on Saturday.
The event featured cricket, ball badminton and volleyball and saw enthusiastic participation of High Court officers and staff. Speaking at the inaugural session, Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, chairman of the sports committee, stressed the need to promote sports and to conduct such tournaments every year. He said it would enhance the brotherhood among the officers and staff.
Justice Sam Koshy, Justice Vijaysen Reddy, Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka, Justice K. Sarath, Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty, Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda, Justice G. Praveen Kumar, the Registrar General and registrars of the High Court participated in the events.
HC raps officer for 25-year delay
Hyderabad:A division bench of the Telangana High Court has faulted the Appellate Authority under the Evacuee Interest (Separation) Act for failing to perform its statutory duties regarding a 43-acre evacuee property dispute in Jangaon district. The bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice Gadi Praveen Kumar reprimanded the authority for sitting on the matter for 25 years without deciding the application.
The bench upheld the single judge’s order imposing costs of `50,000 on the officer. The land originally belonged to Nooruddin Hasan and Saifuddin Khalid, sons of Muneer Ahmed and brothers of Saleha Fatima Begum. After the partition, the brothers migrated to Pakistan, and the land was classified as Evacuee Property, while Fatima Begum remained in India.
The competent officer later auctioned the property. Fatima Begum acquired it under a registered sale certificate dated 17.12.1962 after paying `38,415, making her the undisputed owner. It was later discovered that the officer had inadvertently omitted land in four survey numbers from the certificate. Fatima Begum died on June 27, 1987.
Her legal heirs submitted representations on November 5, 1988, to the custodian of evacuee property and the commissioner of survey, settlement and land records, seeking allotment of the omitted land. On May 6, 1989, the authorities issued orders in their favour, reaffirming Fatima Begum’s ownership.
When third parties claimed the land, the heirs approached the competent officer seeking allotment of the four survey numbers. The officer passed an order on July 19, 2002, directing both sides to maintain the status quo until the main application was disposed of. However, no steps were taken to conclude the matter after November 7, 2009, despite repeated representations.
The single judge earlier criticised this prolonged inaction and imposed costs on the officer. Challenging that order, the officer filed an appeal.
Dismissing the appeal, the division bench observed that there was “no conceivable reason” for the officer to sit over the application for 25 years without acting under the 1951 Act or related legislation. “What is more shocking is the complete abdication of responsibility by the officer in sheepishly seeking shelter based on the later enactments,” the bench said. The court directed the officer to dispose of such applications within four weeks.
