Telangana High Court stays auction of disputed land

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued stay orders against the notification for auction of land measuring 11 acres in survey number 301 of Puppalaguda village of Gandipet mandal in Ranga Reddy district.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and T. Vinod Kumar made it clear that the state government did not have the title over the said land. “Without having the rights over the property or substantial records, the government cannot presume as it has rights over the land. It has no right to claim it,” the bench said while dealing with a petition filed by a real estate company namely Lakshmi Engineering and Constructions, which stated that it had purchased that land in 2006 from the legal heirs of family members of Navalmal Rizwani, who were residents of Sindh Province of present Pakistan and were forced to migrate to India, at the time of partition. After the migration, the said land was given to them by the union ministry of rehabilitation through the Index S/SR - 2/993 in 1955, as compensation of the lands and properties left behind by Rizwani in Sindh.

A sanad was issued to them in the name of the President of India. All these lands were acquired by the Union government and notified as evacuee properties, before allotting to Navalmal Rizwani.