Registration of APHB flats stuck in courts

CBI probe into Jagan’s assets affects many buyers

Scores of buyers of flats and villas in joint venture projects of the erstwhile AP Housing Board (presently Telangana Housing Board) and private developers have been unable to register properties in their names. This is because the registrations have been stalled due to the illegal investments case of YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in which these developers are involved.

When Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was Chief Minister of the state, the AP Housing Board had entered into an agreement with Indu Eastern Province Ltd to jointly develop housing projects at Kukatpally and Bandlaguda.

The Board had also entered into an agreement with Ramky Infra to develop a housing project at Gachibowli.

Under the agreement, Indu Eastern Province Ltd developed two projects in the city, Indu Aranya at Bandlaguda, and Indu Fortune Fields at Kukatpally. Ramky developed Ramky Towers at Gachibowli.

Those who bought into these three projects have been unable to get their properties registered in their name, as these properties are under the scanner of the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, who registered cases against the son of the late Chief Minister and YSR Congress president, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, in 2010.

N. Sreedhar Reddy, a resident in Ramky Towers, said that he had booked the flat in 2008 and paid the entire cost by 2010, but after the case was registered against Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, the CBI took away all the documents as part of its investigation. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has contended that Indu Projects and Ramky Ltd invested in the companies of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and in return lands belonging to the Housing Board were allotted to them in a quid pro quo deal.

Mr Sreedhar Reddy says that though the CBI has returned the documents, the Housing Board refuses to register the flats in the name of the purchasers stating that the developer has not fulfilled the condition of the joint agreement.

He said that there are 600 flats in Ramky Towers and only about 50 flats have been registered in the name of the buyers; the remaining 550 buyers have been forced to move the court against the Housing Board and the developer.

Owners of property in Indu Aranya and Indu Fortune Fields at Kukatpally are in the same boat as the Enforcement Directorate has attached some portion of the land allotted for the project.

Dhulipalla Ravi Prasad, who bought a flat in Indu Aranya, said that there are 650 flats and 250 villas in the project and more than 415 buyers are fighting a legal battle for registration of their flats and villas.

The Enforcement Directorate recently informed the Hyderabad High Court that it had not attached flats and villas in the project, but it had attached the open commercial space in the project as part of its case against the developer under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.