Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Thursday pulled up revenue authorities over the alleged failure to issue notices in land dispute cases, questioning whether officials were deliberately bypassing due process to prevent affected parties from approaching the courts. The court also made it clear that while protection of govt land was important, such action must strictly conform to the law.Justice NV Shravan Kumar made the observations while hearing a petition challenging the demolition of a compound wall and security room at a residential property in Kondapur by the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA).The judge asked revenue officials whether notices were being withheld intentionally to deny citizens an opportunity to seek legal remedies, while observing if it was a crime for people to approach the courts.The court directed the Serilingampally tahsildar, who had earlier claimed that the disputed property was govt land, to appear before it with complete records relating to the case.Appearing for the petitioner, advocate S Sridhar contended that the govt’s counter affidavit did not indicate that any notice had been served before the demolition. Govt pleader for revenue K Muralidhar Reddy, however, argued that revenue officials were not at fault and maintained that no instructions had been issued to HYDRAA to carry out the demolition.During the hearing, the judge questioned the tahsildar on how it had been determined that the petitioner’s construction stood on govt land. The court sought details on whether a survey had been conducted and whether a surveyor was present during the exercise.The tahsildar informed the court that he had assumed charge in Feb and that the land had been identified as govt property by his predecessor.Taking note of the submission, Justice Shravan Kumar directed the former Serilingampally tahsildar, who is currently serving as additional collector of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, to appear before the court on the next date of hearing and produce the complete land records and details of the procedure followed in identifying the land. The present tahsildar was also directed to remain present.The matter will be taken up again on Aug 11.
