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The Telangana High Court on Friday, June 12, imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) Commissioner AV Ranganath for failing to follow court directions in a land dispute case. The court noted that Ranganath did not submit counter-affidavits about the case despite being given multiple opportunities.
Justice NV Shravan Kumar passed the order after HYDRAA failed to file its counter-affidavit within the deadline set by the court. The dispute concerns a two-acre piece of land in Hyderabad’s Vengalrao Nagar. The court directed that the fine be deposited into the Chief Justice Relief Fund. It stated that any future response from HYDRAA would be accepted only after the payment is made.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on June 15.
The land belonged to a man named Farhatullah. According to the petitioners, who are the legal heirs of late Farhatullah, the land was handed over to them in March 2008 following orders of the Supreme Court, and they have remained in possession of the property ever since. The High Court had earlier ordered both HYDRAA and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) not to interfere with the land or remove the petitioners from the property.
However, the petitioners alleged that HYDRAA officials, accompanied by police personnel, entered the land in March this year, demolished a compound wall, and installed barbed-wire fencing. They also claimed that signboards were placed stating that the land belonged to a housing scheme, despite previous court rulings related to the property.
The petitioners have also accused authorities of failing to act on their complaints regarding the alleged occupation of a portion of the same land.
