HC Dismisses PILs Seeking CBI Probe Into Land Allocation to IMG Bharata

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has dismissed two public interest litigations (PILs) filed in 2012, seeking a CBI probe into the alleged conspiracy in alienating around 850 acres of land in Hyderabad to IMG Bharata Academies Private Limited for a throwaway price by the then Telugu Desam-led government in united Andhra Pradesh.

In its judgment, the division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao noted that the petitions lack merits as the petitions on the same issue were already dismissed by the High Court of united Andhra Pradesh and the Supreme Court.

Of the two petitions dismissed by the High Court, one was filed by senior journalist A.B.K. Prasad and YSRC MP Vijaysai Reddy, and another was filed by advocate T. Sriranga Rao, who is presently chairman of Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The court said that petitioners have concealed the material facts and faulted Vijaysai Reddy of filing a PIL in spite of being aware about another PIL on the same subject was under the consideration of the High Court.

Explaining the rationale behind the judgment, the Bench said that there were four reasons, which paved the way for the dismissal. The first reason, according to the High Court, is the principle of res judicata, which prevents the same issues from being litigated multiple times. The High Court faulted the petitioners for how they filed PILs, despite the Supreme Court dismissing the PIL seeking CBI inquiry against Chandrababu Naidu.

The second reason is the doctrine of delay and latches. While the land was sold to the company in 2004, the then state government sought a CBI probe in 2006 and annulled the land allocation in 2007. However, the CBI expressed its inability to probe the case due to shortage of resources. But the petitioners in both PILs were silent till 2012 and made a representation to the Union government and filed PILs later.

The third reason that the High Court referred to in its judgment was that a decision on an investigation by the CBI must be exercised with great caution and cannot be issued as a matter of routine. The High Court pointed out that neither any complaint had been filed against the alleged conspiracy nor any offence had been registered.

Necessity to save the judicial process from becoming abused to subvert justice is the fourth reason that swung the High Court’s opinion. The court faulted the petitioners for concealing material facts and noted that they did not come with clean hands.

The court faulted Vijaysai Reddy for filing the PIL, in spite of having full knowledge of the PIL filed by Vijayamma on the same issue.

On August 9, 2003, the composite state of Andhra Pradesh signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IMG Bharata to train champions in various sports.

As part of the agreement, the government agreed to sell 400 acres of land in Survey No. 25 of Kancha Gachibowli village, Serilingampally mandal, Ranga Reddy district to the company at a nominal price of `50,000 per acre, for the purpose of building, developing, owning, and operating sports academies.

Additionally, the government agreed to sell another 450 acres in Survey No. 99/1 of Mamidipalli Village, near Shamshabad Airport, Ranga Reddy district, for the construction and operation of sports academy facilities. It also agreed to sell between 1 to 5 acres of land along the main road from Banjara Hills to Shilparamam for the development of an office headquarters, with the condition that the company would not alienate these lands.

In 2006, the Congress-led government annulled the agreement and decided to reclaim the land. When the company challenged this decision, the High Court upheld the government's right to repossess the land. However, in 2012, petitioners filed Public Interest Litigations (PILs), seeking a CBI probe to investigate the alleged conspiracy and identify any illegal beneficiaries involved in the agreement.