HYDERABAD: In the second setback in four days to the state government’s plan to sell 95 acres at Puppalaguda village in Gandipet mandal of Rangareddy district, the Telangana high court on Friday stayed the auction of 18 acres in survey number 301 and reserved its orders on 10 more acres in survey number 302.
The state government has decided to challenge the stay orders in Supreme Court. The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) has scheduled the auction of the 95 acres on September 28, which is now in jeopardy. Earlier on Tuesday, the HC had stayed the auction of 11 acres in survey number 301 at Puppalaguda village, making it clear that the state cannot sell a piece of land over which it has no title.
The litigation is over land notified by Centre for refugees from Pakistan during the Partition on which the state claims ownership.
The state has been refusing to recognise documents furnished by petitioners and contending that they were not pre-Partition tenants as claimed.
On Friday, a bench of Acting Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar was hearing the petition by Ramchander Singh and six others claiming rights as pre-Partition tenants over the 18 acres in survey number 301 at Puppalaguda and challenging TSIIC auction notification. The bench stayed the auction saying that the case had come on remand from Supreme Court and it was not proper to accord rights to any of the two parties, petitioners or the state, at this stage.
“If we allow auction now, then that would create third-party interests in the land and would cause severe prejudice to the cause of the petitioners,” the bench said.
