Telangana man claims he owns one fourth of village, threatens 36 families to vacate

Vittal’s great grandfather had sold the land in 1966 – but the papers are still in his name. So what happens to the families who have been living on it for five decades?
Telangana man claims he owns one fourth of village, threatens 36 families to vacate
Telangana man claims he owns one fourth of village, threatens 36 families to vacate

In a shocking story from Adilabad district in Telangana, a man has claimed that he owns one fourth of a village, and has been threatening to evict the residents who live on this land. Boyaru Vittal, a 38-year-old from Adilabad town has now asked 36 families to vacate the homes they’ve been living in for close to five decades, and has accused them of encroaching his great grandfather’s land.

On February 21, the 36 families of Kanta – which is approximately 300 km from Hyderabad – were shocked when they received legal notices from Vittal. Not just notices, they also got summons from the Regional Divisional Officer (RDO) over the issue on March 3.

According to the residents of Kanta, the land – seven acres and 14 guntas – had been sold by Vittal’s grandfather, Boyaru Mahadev, to a man called Badala Rajareddy in 1966. However, the land registration papers still contain Mahadev’s name.

Rajareddy’s grandson, Badala Narendra Kamta, said, “My grandfather bought the land from the Vittal’s great grandfather in 1966. He converted them into small plots and sold it to the villagers. We were living happily. But we didn’t know that my grandfather hadn’t registered the land, although he had bought it. Only during the survey did we come to know that the land was still in the name of Boyaru Mahadev.”

Using this technicality, Vittal is trying to turn a profit, Narendra accused.

Vittal found out about the name in the registration papers in October 2017, during the renewal of land records as per the ‘Samagra Bhu Survey’ taken up by the Telangana government. The Samagra Bhu survey is a comprehensive land survey undertaken by the state government to end land disputes.

After learning about it through his lawyer Mekkala Madhukar, and after consulting the RDO, Vittal sent notices to the residents who were living on these lands. Following this, the villagers and the petitioner received summons from the RDO to resolve the dispute on March 3, which was postponed to March 27.

However, the meeting failed to make any headway, as the two parties couldn’t agree with each other. The issue has been escalated to the District Collector.

The two parties will now meet the Collector on April 3.

Meanwhile, the Jainad mandal Tahsildar has registered the land as ‘Aabadhi’ (village site), until the dispute gets resolved.

Expressing worries over the land being registered as Aabadhi, one of the residents whose home is on the line, Agarkar Mahindra said, “The case is still going on. Our worries haven’t ended yet. Only the Collector will decide now.”

Narendra Kamta said, “For two generations, we have been living here. It’s been five decades since the land was purchased. Though the village revenue officer clearly told Vittal that he can’t claim ownership of the land, he seems to have been instigated by someone to pursue the matter nonetheless. Hence, he has resorted to intimidating us through legal notices.”

The Tahsildar, B Prabhakar said, “We had told Vittal earlier itself that although his great grandfather’s name was in the papers, the land doesn’t belong to him. But he resorted to threatening the villagers to make some money. But his claims will be proved invalid, if he approaches the court.”


 

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