Congress MLAs move High Court alleging land encroachment; say HYDRAA ignored complaint

Congress MLAs approached the Telangana High Court alleging encroachment of 27 acres of government land in Khajaguda, claiming HYDRAA ignored their complaints and that officials colluded with private builders

By Legal Correspondent

Hyderabad: Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed four ruling party MLAs to submit a fresh representation with specific survey details of allegedly encroached government lands at Khajaguda village limits of Serilingampalli mandal in Rangareddy district.

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The PIL was filed by Congress legislators J Anirudh Reddy (Jadcherla), Y Srinivas Reddy (Mahabubnagar), Dr B Murali Naik (Mahabubabad), and Dr K Rajesh Reddy (Nagarkurnool), who accused revenue and municipal officials of colluding with private builders to illegally transfer and permit construction on 27.18 acres of poramboke land classified as government land since the 1950s.

According to the petition, land in Sy. No. 117/3/1 (new Sy. No. 27) was originally recorded as government land in the Khasra Pahani and Sethwar of 1954–1958. However, based on a rectification order issued by the District Revenue Officer in 1995, the land was subsequently shown in the names of private individuals.

The MLAs also alleged construction of eight huge towers of 47 floors each on 27.18 acres of government land in Khajaguda, allegedly in violation of environmental and planning norms. They alleged that the ongoing high-rise construction not only encroaches upon Full Tank Level (FTL) areas of Khajaguda Lake but also poses a risk to public health due to a red-mix plant operating in close proximity to Oakridge School.

The legislators further stated that complaints lodged with the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring Authority (HYDRAA) yielded no action, compelling them to approach the court in the interest of safeguarding government land and natural resources.

Chikkudu Prabhakar, counsel appearing for the petitioners, argued that the land transfer and subsequent construction permissions were based on forged and erroneous entries in revenue records, and urged the court to direct the State to recover the land and cancel the permissions.

The Bench, however, observed that the representation made to HYDRAA lacked sufficient details regarding survey numbers and precise location of the land in question. The Court therefore directed the petitioners to file a detailed representation to the authorities, including all necessary particulars. The case was adjourned by two weeks, and the petitioners were asked to furnish a copy of the revised representation before the next hearing.