HC: TS Not Owner of Bhoodan Lands

HYDERABAD:The Telangana High Court has unequivocally affirmed that Bhoodan lands are not government-owned lands, and revenue officials lack the authority to initiate criminal proceedings for the transfer of such lands.

Justice Anupama Chakravarthy presided over a criminal petition submitted by G. Rajender Reddy, the former chairman of the Bhoodan Board. He sought the court's intervention to nullify a criminal case filed against him at the Kukatpally Police Station. The allegations against him revolved around the purported sale of plots within 24 acres of government land located in Survey Nos. 353 and 354 in Kukatpally village, supposedly involving fabricated documents.

In 2022, the police registered this case based on a complaint from the tahsildar.

Upon a thorough examination of records and the findings of the Regional Deputy Director of Survey and Land Records from reports in 1998 and 2011, the court concluded that the land measuring 20 acres actually belonged to Kukatpally village, encompassing survey numbers 353 and 354. These Survey Nos. overlapped with Survey Nos. 191 and 192 of Moosapet Village, which had already been deleted from Faisal Patti of Moosapet village. Consequently, the land rightfully belonged to Kukatpally village.

Scrutiny of records established that Survey Nos. 353 and 354 were designated as Bhoodan land. In 2014, these lands were allotted to individuals in need. Consequently, the court determined that this land did not fall under the government's jurisdiction, and the tahsildar had no grounds to initiate legal action concerning Bhoodan land. Consequently, the court dismissed the criminal case against the former chairman of the Bhoodan Board.