Hyderabad: Taking a serious view of HYDRAA demolishing the compound wall of a private property and fencing it allegedly on the instructions of Medchal Malkajgiri district collector despite clear orders, Telangana high court directed the collector and tahsildars of Malkajgiri and Trimulgherry mandals to appear before the court along with records to explain their actions in a land dispute case.Justice NV Shravan Kumar passed these directions while hearing owners of plots in a layout developed by Vani Cooperative Housing Society on 16.37 acres of land near RK Puram. The matter has been posted for further hearing on Aug 11.According to the petitioner society, they purchased the land through registered sale deeds in 1996-97, and the layout was sanctioned by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board in 1990. The defence estate officer earlier clarified that the land did not belong to the defence department.They contended that despite showing the relevant documents and citing interim court orders, HYDRAA demolished their compound wall on July 18, and erected mesh fencing and signboards on the property without a notice.In response, the govt counsel argued that revenue records classified the land as govt-owned surplus land under Urban Land Ceiling Act, correlating it with Cantonment lands, while HYDRAA’s counsel maintained it had only fenced govt land at the revenue department’s request and had not encroached on any private property.Taking note of the submissions, the court observed that the land was recorded as a patta land in revenue records up to 2006-07, but this classification mysteriously disappeared from the 2014-15 records without any explanation.The court further said the collector, despite being aware of interim orders passed in earlier writ petitions, should not have directed HYDRAA to take action without verifying the pending litigation. “Fencing the property amounted to clear violation of the earlier directions,” said the court and questioned how the authorities correlated the disputed Cantonment land records with the petitioners’ surveyed and sanctioned layout.
