Telangana High Court declines to invoke Article 226 for land encroachers

The Division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N V Shravan Kumar was dealing with an appeal which sought strict application of G O 59 issued by the Revenue Department.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday held that it was not inclined to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of the constitution under Article 226 for the sake of land encroachers. The Division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N V Shravan Kumar was dealing with an appeal which sought strict application of G O 59 issued by the Revenue Department. The G O 59 was issued for regularization of government land under the possession of private individuals.

The Non-BPL (Below poverty line) individuals could make an application under this G O by paying the market value existing at the time of making an application. It is the case of the petitioner that as per the G O, though the revenue officials can only collect 25% of the market value, the officials are insisting on paying the total market value for the open land. Speaking for the bench, Chief Justice Alok Aradhe commented that the encroachers in fact should have been dispossessed from the government lands, however with all magnanimity, it is permitting individuals to regularize. This Court is not giving any lenience to encroachers for seeking rights, the bench said. It also observed that regularization is purely a government policy and the petitioner should pay the charges demanded. Accordingly, the bench dismissed the case.

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Revanth case on defamation

Justice K Lakshman of Telangana High Court on Friday allowed a petition filed by A Revanth Reddy, MLA and president of the Telangana Congress Party and remanded the matter back to magistrate. The judge quashed a cognisance order office of the trial court in the case filed against him by J Rameshwar Rao of My Home Group. In the year 2014, he filed a defamation case for an amount of Rs. 90 Crore for remarks made by Revanth Reddy in a TV Channel. The remarks pertain to handing over of Rs.2000 crore worth of government land to Rameshwar Rao free of cost.

Senior counsel S S Prasad appearing on behalf of Revanth Reddy contended that the impugned order of cognizance by the trial courts was against the Supreme Court rulings. He also said that the allegations do not constitute defamation and that Revanth Reddy had only made statements expressing his views on a public issue in his capacity as a public representative. Justice Lakshman conceding the arguments made by the senior counsel set aside the order of the magistrate and remanded back the case.