The Telangana government on Tuesday evening erected two signboard stating that the contentious 400-acre Kancha Gachibowli land adjoining the University of Hyderabad (UoH) belongs to the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC), leading the varsity students’ union to allege that it had violated Supreme Court and high court orders that put a stay on all activities on the property.
“There was an old board mentioning the case between the state government and IMG Bharata. Now that we have won the case in the Supreme Court and the land belongs to us, we have replaced that with a new board. It only mentions that the land belongs to the state government,” a state government official told indianexpress.comwondering how it was a violation of the Supreme Court’s interim order staying any activity on the disputed land.
The board states that the land “belongs to TGIIC Ltd, alienated through GO MS no 54, Dt 26.6.2024, Revenue (Land and Administration -II) Department, GO TG”. Government Order 54 was issued after the state government won a long-drawn legal battle in May 2024 against a private sports management company that was originally allotted the land in 2003 from UoH. The land was reclaimed by the state government in 2006.
“Two such boards were placed last night. There is a lot of police presence to prevent anyone from going there. (Express Photo)
“Two such boards were placed last night. There is a lot of police presence to prevent anyone from going there. We don’t know the status of deforestation,” Vennela Mocherla, a PhD Sociology scholar at UoH, said. Adding that these signboards have been placed despite the Supreme Court order that prohibited any activity, she said: “Last night, several lorries and trucks had come into the university, and we saw them going to the east campus. We assume that they were clearing all the trees that were cut before the arrival of the central empowered committee. We do not know how much tree cover is left in that land.”
A security officer at the UoH confirmed that the board was a new one. “There used to be one board of TGIIC. On Tuesday, around 4.30 pm, this board was removed, and two new boards were put up. No one is allowed there as the entire area is under police control,” the security officer said.
UoH Students’ Union vice-president Akash Kumar said this was a clear-cut violation of the Supreme Court order. “They have been citing this order whenever we sought permission to look after the injured animals and assess the damage by surveying the area. They have gone ahead and placed this signboard. It is a violation of the order,” Kumar said.
The Supreme Court had recently sought an explanation from the Telangana government on the “compelling urgency” for clearing the forest and put a stay on all activities till further orders. It has also directed a central empowered committee to visit the site and file a report by April 16.
