RR district collector ignores SC’s order

Police say unresolved Hafeezpet row has been spawning land disputes

THE APEX COURT had on December 16 last year directed the collector of Ranga Reddy district to undertake a survey as early as possible, and complete it in four weeks.

Showing scant respect to a directive from the Supreme Court, the Ranga Reddy district administration has been sleeping over holding survey of some parcels of land situated in the controversial survey number 80 of Hafeezpet in the city.

The apex court had on December 16 last year directed the collector of Ranga Reddy district to undertake a survey as early as possible, and complete it in four weeks. In the order, the SC refused to interfere with a February 2019 order of the Telangana High Court, directing the collector to conduct a survey to settle a border dispute between Hafeezpet and Kondapur within three months.

The inaction of the revenue authorities drew attention in the wake of the recent property dispute involving former Andhra Pradesh minister Bhomma Akhilapriya in the same survey number 80.

“The revenue authorities’ inaction to resolve land disputes, or at least honouring the verdicts of honourable courts, including the Supreme Court, is leading law and order problems. It is this inaction on part of the district administration that has led to a spurt in land grabs and related crimes in the city,” a senior police official said.

“Take this specific case of three parties engaged in border disputes,” he said, adding that the revenue department can easily resolve the fight by conducting a survey, as per court orders.

A border dispute between the three parties, one having a land in survey number 80 of Hafeezpet (Greater Golkonda Estates) and two others in survey number 97 of Kondapur (Kolla Madhava Reddy and V. Satyanarayana Rao) landed before the High Court two years ago.

The division bench comprising Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and T. Amarnath Goud did not agree with the state government’s contention that it owned land in survey number 80, which is part of CS No. 14 of 1958, which is pending before the court.

The bench referred to both the High Court and Supreme Court dismissing the state’s plea several times against the inclusion of survey number 80 in CS 14 of 1958 and an application for condonation of delay of 38 years in challenging the inclusion. The court observed, “it is not open to Telangana state to set up any claim to land in Hafeezpet village.”

Referring to the apprehensions of the two parties, Madhava Reddy and

Satyanarayana Rao, that the Greater Golkonda Estates might grab land under the guise of a survey, the High Court bench observed that the latter’s land falls in survey number 80 of Hafeezpet and not in survey number 97 of Kondapur. “It is necessary to conduct a survey and demarcate land in both these surveys, which are part of different villages – Hafeezpet and Kondapur,” it observed.

The court also observed and chided that government for becoming a ‘vexatious litigant’ in land matters.