Hyderabad: Telangana high court has raised serious concerns over the functioning of the revenue department after finding that an internal confidential report, which was not approved or formally communicated, was accessed by a litigant and produced before the court.The court observed that the incident reflected the manner in which confidential communication and reports were reaching parties even before final orders were passed and directed the principal secretary, revenue department, to submit a report on the safeguards in place to secure official records.Justice NV Shravan Kumar has passed the directions while hearing a farmer, who approached the court, challenging the confidential report related to his land missing in the official records.Petitioner Pedda Thimmanna challenged the report-cum-rejection endorsement of March 18, 2026, relating to his request for restoration of 30 guntas of land in Mellachervu village, Jogulamba Gadwal district, in the Bhubharati (Dharani land) records.He urged the court to set aside the endorsement and restore the missing land details in his name.The petitioner’s counsel relied on the report submitted by the tahsildar to the revenue divisional officer (RDO) recommending rejection of his application.The court noted that no final order was passed by the competent authority or communicated to the petitioner. Govt, represented by the assistant govt pleader for revenue, argued that the application was still pending before the RDO and that the writ petition was filed prematurely by challenging only an internal report.Meanwhile, questioning how the petitioner obtained the internal communication, the court sought an explanation from both the tahsildar and the RDO.The court also noted that the petitioner was unable to explain the source of the document and pointed out that this was a clear example of confidential communications, documents and reports within the revenue department being accessed by parties before approval and before formal orders were issued.It warned that such uncontrolled access could lead to tampering with official records. It stressed that revenue authorities, as custodians of public records, were expected to maintain confidentiality and ensure proper security.Directing the principal secretary, revenue department, to examine the issue, high court ordered the filing of a report detailing the measures taken to safeguard confidential documents and explaining how such internal communication was being obtained by private parties.The court also directed the high court Registry to communicate the order to the principal secretary and posted the matter to July 13 for submission of the report.
