Hyderabad: A division bench of Telangana High Court on Wednesday refused to grant any relief to IAS and IPS officials, who allegedly bought Gairan OR Bhoodan lands at Nagaram village in Maheshwaram mandal.
The officials approached the Bench stating that the lands they purchased are private patta lands and not Bhoodan lands as alleged. They also contended that the single judge granted relief beyond what the petitioner had prayed for.
The Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara, however, was not inclined to interfere in the single judge’s interim orders directing the department concerned to include the said lands in 22A prohibited list.
“Instead of filing appeals, you file vacate stay petitions before the single judge, if you are aggrieved with the interim orders,” the Bench told the appellants. The court also said that if the appellants were of the view that the single judge passed ex-parte orders without hearing them, the practice was to file vacate stay petition before the same single judge.
Moreover, the Acting CJ also reminded the appellants that the interim orders of the single judge, has not finally decided the question or issue in controversy in the main case and the order has not decided any issue which materially or directly affects final decision in the petition. Hence, not a case of filing appeals, he said.
Senior counsels Desai Prakash Reddy, S. Niranjan Reddy and M.V. Suresh Kumar appearing for the appellants argued that the single judge had passed the interim orders were something else than what the petitioner had asked for. The counsels said that there are severe ramifications following the uncalled observation of the single judge, like ED searches and the vigilance department is going to take action in the issue.
One of the counsels brought to the notice of the court that the observations of the single judge could have far-reaching consequences and the media is maligning and tarnishing the image of the long-served senior officers and buyers of land in survey number 194 and 195 of Nagaram village, which are not Bhoodan Lands.
“Everyone is being branded as a kind of a land grabber, by publishing the land details in the media and how much of the land the officers had purchased,” the counsel argued and sought some modifications in the orders of the single judge.
Refuting the contentions of the appellants counsels, senior counsel L. Ravichander representing the writ petitioner Birla Mallesh, argued that the single judge has issued the interim orders as no further damage has occurred to the land like alienation or transfer.
He submitted that the lands may not be Bhoodan lands, but now they are vested with the government and marked as Gairan lands, which are prohibited for transfers or alienations.
Ravichander, addressing the issue of various officials apprehending challenges to their repute, pointed out that it was their appeal that was published in various sections of the media, in front pages of the newspapers. He further said that once the court was inclined to dismiss the appeal on maintainability the plea to delete the certain observations of the single judge cannot be entertained. He also pointed out that ED raids in the interregnum also revealed startling facts as reported.
