TS owns 1,654 acres at Manikonda: SC

HYDERABAD: Ending decades-old litigation, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that 1,654 acres of Manikonda village belonged to the state government, rejecting the ownership claims of Wakf Board on the same land.

The final verdict pronounced by a division bench comprising Justice Hemnath Gupta and Justice V. Ramasubramanian provided much-needed relief to several public and private institutes besides individual landowners. Some of the institutes established in the contentious Manikonda jagir include International School of Business, Maulana Azad Urdu University, Wipro and TNGOs Housing Society.

The dispute began when the state government auctioned a portion of land to Lanco Group for establishing an integrated township. Another controversial project, Emaar, apart from several individual layouts, also came upon the same land.

The apex court categorically declared that the land would vest with the state and Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and was free from encumbrance. It declared a notification issued by the Wakf Board claiming the ownership of the land as invalid as it did not belong to Dargah Hazrat Hussain Shah Vali.  

However, taking a view that the jagir of Manikonda village was allotted for rendering services, the Supreme Court directed the government to make cash payment to the dargah, in terms of Section 10(2) (i) of the Commutation Regulation, 90 per cent of the gross basic sum referred to in Section 4 of the Commutation Regulation. The arrears shall be calculated and paid to the dargah within six months.

“The government will follow the order of the court in terms of the commutation,” Ranga Reddy collector Amoy Kumar told Deccan Chronicle. The collector and team of revenue officials including revenue divisional officer Chandrakala pursued the case with the senior legal team hired by the government.

Going by the facts and evidences before it, the Supreme Court made it clear that the said land did not fall under the charitable lands of the dargah.