Hyderabad: A serious allegation of illegal and unlawful transactions involving Bhoodan lands in Nagaram village, Maheshwaram Mandal, has been brought before the Telangana High Court by petitioner Birla Mallesh.
The petitioner claims that all dealings related to Bhoodan lands in survey numbers 181, 182, 194, and 195 have been conducted in violation of the law.
Mallesh has accused the district collector of submitting a counter affidavit containing false information, without properly examining the Bhoodan land records. He pointed out that although these lands are part of the prohibited list, patta passbooks were illegally issued in the names of private individuals, rendering any subsequent sale transactions invalid.
HC issues notices
The petitioner’s plea seeks a thorough investigation into the encroachment and irregular transfer of Bhoodan lands in the specified survey numbers. During the hearing, Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy directed notices to several IAS and IPS officers and their family members who had purchased land in these areas.
The collector submitted a counter affidavit, which Mallesh has challenged by filing a reply counter, alleging that the collector’s statements contain inaccuracies and omit key facts.
According to the petitioner, based on a letter from the Bhoodan Board, the government had earlier issued a memo declaring 50 acres in survey numbers 181/1, 181/2, and 181/3 as Bhoodan land. Subsequently, then-collector Amoy Kumar, Tahsildar R.P. Jyothi, and revenue officials recommended, and the then Principal Secretary (Revenue) Naveen Mittal de-notified these lands, leading to the issuance of passbooks to seven private individuals.
Mallesh further alleged that during the tenure of collectors Amoy Kumar and S. Harish, several transactions took place transferring these lands to private entities such as EIPL Construction Company and individuals like Praveen Puttaramannagari. He emphasised that once land is donated to the Bhoodan Board, neither the collector nor any subordinate official has the authority to de-notify or regularise it in private names.
The petitioner also highlighted that in 2012, the government issued a memo declaring another 45 acres in the same survey numbers as government (Gairan) land. However, he accused revenue officials, including Naveen Mittal, Amoy Kumar, Harish, MRO Mohammed Ali Khan, and Deputy Tahsildar V. Navata, of manipulating records to illegally approve inheritance claims and issue patta passbooks.
Mallesh pointed out that survey numbers 194 and 195 contain 26.3 and 95 acres, respectively, and a 2019 letter from the then-collector confirmed these lands remained on the prohibited list until that year. Despite this, patta passbooks were issued as early as April 23, 2018. He alleged that IAS and IPS officers and their families purchased these lands based on these illegal passbooks, fully aware of their prohibited status.
The petitioner concluded that the collector’s counter affidavit failed to disclose the illegal activities and record manipulations, urging the court to order a detailed investigation and declare all transactions related to these lands null and void.
