Hyderabad: In perhaps the first such instance in the country, the Telangana High Court on Thursday ordered deployment of Indian Army personnel to protect a disputed private property in Secunderabad after observing that it has “lost all faith in the state govt and its instrumentalities.” The judge, however, later relented and kept its order in abeyance, but not before giving the state govt’s anti-encroachment agency and its commissioner, A V Ranganath, a tongue-lashing.“Though the court is conscious to not involve the Army in such issues, we are doing as we have lost faith in the state. Those sitting in the secretariat should also know what is happening,” Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti said while hearing a contempt petition filed by Shanta Sriram Constructions Private Ltd. The company alleged that the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) was illegally interfering in its 40 acres at Lothukunta despite there being court orders in its favour.The observations have come at a time when HYDRAA is facing numerous contempt cases over allegations of willfully disobeying court orders and unlawfully demolishing properties. The current dispute started with the company telling the court that both a civil court and a division bench of the high court had decided an ownership dispute in its favour. But HYDRAA insisted the land belonged to the govt and interfered in its possession. The high court had disposed of two earlier contempt pleas against Ranganath after assurances that the HYDRAA chief that the agency would not enter the property.On Thursday, Justice Jukanti said that if needed, the court could direct the Army to take Ranganath into custody and place him in the Army barracks for repeatedly violating court orders. He further directed the high court’s registrar general to contact the Army’s senior-most brigadier at Bison Division and get a list of 10 personnel by Friday to be posted at the site.“Let Army personnel be deployed there. Let them take into custody anybody, including HYDRAA, coming into the site and produce them before the court. Seize their vehicles also,” said the judge in open court. He directed that copies of the order should be emailed to the Union home and defence ministries.However, later during the day, advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy informed the judge that HYDRAA had not interfered in the land’s possession. Justice Jukanti then directed Ranganath to file an affidavit, kept is order in abeyance and posted the case to July 24.While hearing the contempt case on Tuesday, the court had threatened to have Ranganath arrested by the local police calling him a “habitual offender”.
