Telangana High Court on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) directed the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to adhere to procedure while taking action against a businessman named B. Pradeep Reddy over his farmhouse in Janwada village on the Hyderabad outskirts.
While some said the farmhouse originally belonged to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao, the latter at a press conference claimed that he did not own it but had taken the property on lease for some time. Justice K. Lakshman of the HC also directed the HYDRAA not to discriminate between owners of small extents of lands (60 to 100 square yards), and one acre and above while acting against illegal encroachments and unauthorised constructions.
The judge wanted the HYDRAA to specifically consider prima-facie title of illegal encroachers and the persons who raised the unauthorised structures. He instructed the agency to examine permissions obtained by property owners from different government wings like Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, municipalities and gram panchayats.
Justice Lakshman made it clear that HYDRAA should adhere to the procedure laid down in the GO Ms. no. 99 (through which the agency was constituted) while taking steps against illegal constructions. All the procedures laid down in the GO must be followed by the agency to ensure citizens reposed confidence in the government, the direction said.
Pradeep Reddy, the petitioner, contended that engineering authorities visited his farmhouse and ‘threatened’ to take action, claiming the property was located within Full Tank Level (FTL) of Osmansagar. He claimed the authorities had said they would come back with HYDRAA officials, apprehending that official machinery would demolish his farmhouse without following procedure.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) Mohammed Imran Khan, explaining the GO through which HYDRAA was constituted, assured the court that no action would be initiated by deviating from the procedure laid down in law. Referring to the petitioner’s contention that his vendor obtained permission to build the farmhouse from Janwada sarpanch, the AAG told the court that the sarpanch had no power to accord any such permission.
“It was for the Janwada village panchayat secretary to accord any such permission,” the AAG said. Assuring the HC that HYDRAA would examine all records available with the petitioner before taking any action, he sought two weeks to file counter affidavit. The matter was adjourned to September 12.
