Telangana High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by two private persons seeking to quash an order issued by a Special Court of Land Grabbing Cases declaring them grabbers of government land admeasuring 1,789 square metres in the prime locality of Nampally in Hyderabad.
Pronouncing verdict in the writ petition filed nearly 16 years ago, a bench of Justices Shameem Akther and E.V. Venugopal said the petitioners failed to substantiate that the Special Court had disregarded rules of procedure or violated principles of natural justice. The bench noted the Special Court had acted within its jurisdiction and did not act in excess of it. It did not fail in exercising its jurisdiction either, the bench noted.
The petitioners claimed that their ancestors got the said land by way of grant from Raja Ramdev Rao, paternal uncle of Raja Rameshwar Rao of Wanaparthy. Having inherited from that grant, the petitioners claimed, they were living in the said land for past several decades. However, one Raja Rameshwar Rao filed civil suits before city civil court for eviction of occupants of the land to whom his relative Raja Ramdev Rao had assigned the lands.
The bench noted that dismissal of Raja Rameshwar Rao’s suits and appeals proved that he had no lawful title on the piece of land in dispute. The petitioners claimed that they acquired the 1,789 square metres of the land from Raja Rameshwar Rao.
The bench said that Town Survey and Land Register and other documents prima facie proved ownership of the land vested with the government. The Special Court did not refuse to admit any material evidence and it had not erroneously admitted any inadmissible evidence, the judgement said.
