Hyderabad: A high-stakes land auction planned by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) in the heart of Banjara Hills has run into controversy, with two claimants alleging that a portion of the prime govt land being put on the block overlaps with their holdings.The dispute centres on an 8.24-acre parcel in survey No. 102/1 of Hakeempet village, which HMDA plans to auction on June 19. The land, among the most valuable in the city, is estimated to be worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore. HMDA has fixed an upset price of Rs 99 crore per acre and is expecting bids in the range of Rs 130 crore to Rs 150 crore per acre.However, Yamuna Nagar Cooperative House Building Society and Theme Ambience Construction Pvt Ltd have both sought a demarcation exercise, claiming that around four acres of their adjoining land overlaps with the govt parcel proposed for auction.Yamuna Nagar Society, which owns land in neighbouring survey Nos. 102/2 and 102/3, has urged the govt to halt the auction until a joint survey is conducted and boundaries are clearly established. The society has submitted representations to HMDA, principal secretary of revenue department, and Hyderabad collector seeking intervention.According to the society, it had originally purchased 28 acres in 1979 from the original pattadar, Syed Ahmed Nooruddin, whose title was later confirmed by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh govt (through memo No. 4024/assg) in 1990. The land subsequently became the subject of prolonged litigation after the govt cancelled the assignment of nearly 30 acres in survey No. 102 in 1965, terming it irregular.The dispute was contested in high court and later the Supreme Court.The society said the issue was substantially resolved through GO No. 166 (issued on Feb 21, 2009), under which the revenue department regularised 12.01 acres in its favour upon payment of regularisation charges. Through the same GO, the govt allotted four acres and another 1.26 acres to All India Services officers’ quarters, 5.36 acres to Greater Banjara Cooperative House Building Society and three acres to 16 others, based on reports submitted by the then Hyderabad collector.But Yamuna Nagar Society now alleges that despite the regularisation of 12 acres, only eight acres remain in its possession.“Now, the revenue department has fenced the land with blue sheets without conducting a joint survey and demarcating our land. As a result, even in 12 acres, we are left with only eight acres and another four acres is overlapping in the govt’s survey No. 102/1 land, which is being auctioned now,” KR Sudarshan Reddy, president of Yamuna Nagar Society, told TOI on Tuesday.He said the society had been requesting a joint survey for months.“But the revenue department without issuing notices to neighbouring survey numbers unilaterally fenced the areas,” Sudarshan Reddy said. “If the revenue department is confident that our survey No. land is not overlapping in their land, why is the govt hesitating to conduct a joint survey,” he asked.HMDA metropolitan commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmad asserted that the auction would proceed as planned, insisting that survey No. 102/1 is an undisputed govt land.“The revenue department handed over the land to the HMDA on Aug 14, 2025, which does not interfere with any other survey numbers,” he said, adding that the fencing and blue sheets were erected by the revenue department.“We have representations from Yamuna Nagar Society and Sajjan Raj Jain of Theme Ambience, and they were duly forwarded to the revenue department. We have informed them that the land which is being auctioned is govt land,” the HMDA commissioner claimed.Shaikpet tahsildar Anitha Reddy also rejected the overlap claim.“The fencing of the land was done only for survey No. 102/1, which is a govt land, not the society’s land. If the society wants a fresh survey, they can approach the land survey and settlement department as their survey number is different,” she said.
