Telangana HC Ticks Off Government on Land Regularisation
The Bench was dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Gadeela Raghuveer Reddy of Kondapaka, Siddipet, who challenged the validity of G.O. Ms. No. 56 dated May 23, 2023 by which around 1,161 sq yards of land in NBT Nagar at Road No 12 of Banjara Hills, was regularised in favour of Venkateshwar Rao, and around 425 square yards in same locality was regularised in favour of Vijaya Laxmi Gadwal.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday took the government to task for regularising the allegedly occupied (possession) government land in Banjara Hills on nominal rates to favour GHMC Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi and her sibling K. Venkateshwar Rao.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin said that the state government needs to rectify government orders issued for regularising the land in favor of the beneficiaries.
The court asked additional advocate-general Imran Khan to deliberate with the officials concerned and rectify the GO, if necessary. However, during the hearing the court observed, “It is clear there was some deviation. Please correct it, otherwise, if the court passes orders, it would come heavily.”
The Bench was dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Gadeela Raghuveer Reddy of Kondapaka, Siddipet, who challenged the validity of G.O. Ms. No. 56 dated May 23, 2023 by which around 1,161 sq yards of land in NBT Nagar at Road No 12 of Banjara Hills, was regularised in favour of Venkateshwar Rao, and around 425 square yards in same locality was regularised in favour of Vijaya Laxmi Gadwal.
The GO for regularisation was issued on May 23, 2023, when the BRS was in power.
The petitioner’s counsel, Shreyas Reddy Yalagiri, argued that the amendments to the original policy were misused to regularise the land on the account of slum area. Further, the counsel submitted that the regularisation was allegedly done at nominal rates of `2,500 per square yard and `350 per square yard, instead of the prevailing card rate under the policy of `60,300 per square yard.
The counsel submitted that the market value of the lands located at NBT Nagar, Road No.12, Banjara Hills, is in crores of rupees as of February 2024.
The counsel Shreyas also submitted that the government earlier issued GO 59 to regularise the encroached unobjectionable government lands on payment of various percentages of basic value as on June 2, 2014, according to the size of the land. But, the then government had issued separate GO 56 to regularize the said lands with a nominal prices of `350 and `2,500 per square yard.
Taking note of that, the Bench questioned the additional advocate general as to whether the state government is extending the benefits under the GO to other applicants, who have applied for regularisation of lands as is done to Venkateswara Rao and Vijaya Laxmi Gadwal. The court also asked why they were considered special, whereas the policy should be uniform to all the citizens.
Further, the Chief Justice Bench said that the court did not want to remove them from the land, but the basic value must be collected and it is to be the same yardstick for all the applicants for regularization of encroached government lands.
When the additional AG replied that the beneficiaries in the case applied for regularisation long back and the rate was fixed accordingly to the basic value of the day, Justice G.M. Mohiuddin pointed out that the information under RTI application showed that the beneficiaries made representation in 2023.
The court advised the beneficiaries and the respondents to not take the matter as a prestige issue and to rectify the mistakes in the GO. The court clearly said that it did not want to go further deeply and advised to follow the law of equality. The court adjourned the matter to January 7.
