The Congress MLAs alleged that massive land grabbing involving over 27 acres of prime government land worth thousands of crores of rupees is taking place.
Published Jun 18, 2025 | 3:34 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 18, 2025 | 3:34 PM
The Telangana High Court. (Wikimedia Commons)
Synopsis: The ruling party MLAs objected to the development of 27 acres at Khajaguda in Hyderabad, saying it would affect natural resources, include a lake, and go against constitutional and environmental safeguards.
In what is turning out to be a major embarrassment to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, four Congress MLAs have moved the High Court recently against their party-led government, raising objections to the construction of eight towers of 47 floors each on 27 acres at Khajaguda in Hyderabad.
A Bench of acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara, on 16 June, asked the MLAs to submit a fresh representation to the government, incorporating specific details such as the exact survey numbers of the land in question, since they complained that HYDRAA had not acted on their earlier complaint.
The court later adjourned the case to an unspecified date after two weeks (towards the month-end).
MLAs—Janampally Anirudh Reddy (Jadcherla), Yennem Srinivasa Reddy (Mahabubnagar), Kuchakulla Rajeswar Reddy (Nagarkurnool), and Bhukya Murali Naik (Mahabubabad) filed the PIL.
The petitioners sought the cancellation of all construction permissions, removal of the red-mix plant located nearby, and a direction to the state to reclaim the land as government property. They argued that their move was not just about real estate, but protecting natural resources, preserving lakes, and upholding constitutional and environmental safeguards.
The petitioners said that the eight towers with a total plinth area of 50 lakh square feet were being built on the disputed government land and reportedly encroached on the full-tank level area of the Khajaguda Lake. They termed the lake a critical water body in the city’s ecological zone.
The petitioners further alleged that a red-mix concrete plant was established within 150 metres of Oakridge International School, in violation of environmental and zoning regulations. The plant, they said, polluted the environment and posed a health risk to schoolchildren.
The court issued notices to several government authorities, including the state government, the Principal Secretary of Revenue, the Ranga Reddy District Collector, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), and the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA), seeking their responses to the allegations raised in the PIL.
The filing of the PIL found a distant echo in a development that had rocked the political circles. On 2 February 2025, a group of 10 Congress MLAs held a “secret meeting” to express discontent, particularly against a senior minister, for alleged bribe demands related to contractors’ bills. Though it was not against the chief minister per se, most of the MLAs were from Mahabubnagar. The chief minister is also from Mahabubnagar.
Interestingly, three of the four MLAs who filed the PIL now represent constituencies in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district.
The petitioners approached the court, complaining that though they had raised the issue to HYDRAA, no action was taken. The four legislators are now expected to file a fresh petition with the government, most probably with HYDRAA, with specific details.
The court gave the direction to address the ambiguity in the original PIL, which broadly referred to Survey No. 117/3/1 (from 1954–1958 revenue records, now recorded as Survey No. 27) without sufficient clarity for the court to proceed.
The PIL alleged that massive land grabbing involving over 27 acres of prime government land worth thousands of crores of rupees in Khajaguda village, Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy district, was taking place.
It accused senior government officials and private entities of collusion, fraud, and violation of multiple laws to facilitate the construction of the eight 47-storey towers on government land, including a portion of the lake’s full-tank level area.
The land in question, originally recorded under Survey No. 117/3/1 (old) and later renumbered as Survey No. 27 (new), was classified as poramboke government land in official records such as the Khasra Pahani (1954–55) and Sethwar (1955–58). Despite this, the land was, over the decades, wrongly transferred to private parties through a series of questionable administrative decisions.
The PIL alleged that in 1995, the then District Revenue Officer (DRO) passed Proceedings No. D1/6770/1993, citing a “rectification of survey number error” between Sy. Nos. 119 & 122 (old) and Sy. No. 27 (new). Based on this, 27.18 acres of government land were wrongly recorded in the names of Sikander Khan, Salabat Khan, and eight others (respondents 13 & 14 and their family members). These names were officially entered into the land records (Adangal Pahani) in 1996.
From there, the land changed hands multiple times. It was sold to Pallavi (Respondent 15) and later to members of the Beverly Hills Owners Welfare Society (Respondent 16). Ultimately, Sohini Builders, LLP (Respondent 17) obtained development rights through a registered DGPA (Development General Power of Attorney).
The PIL said that the then Ranga Reddy Collector issued a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) on 23 January 2023 (File No. Lr.E1/2970/2022), allowing the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to process a building permit for Sohini Builders.
Subsequently, GHMC granted two building permissions—one on 17 March 2023 (File No. 005663/GHMC/2841/SLP1/2022-BP) and the other on 24 October 2024 (File No. 005862/GHMC/2937/SLP1/2022-BP). Both permissions were given after the Congress came to power in the state in December 2023.
The petitioners argued that all of this was enabled by the willful negligence or active connivance of officials from the Revenue Department, GHMC, HMDA, and other agencies. They cited the Khasra Pahani, Sethwar, and Sessala Pahani records—which all classify the land as government poramboke—to assert that the land never legally belonged to the private parties now developing it.
Needless to say, the filing of the PIL by the Congress MLAs has significant implications for the Telangana government and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who holds the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) portfolio.
The unpleasant part is that the PIL’s allegations of illegal permissions granted in 2023 to M/s Bandi Bindu for construction on government land (valued anywhere between ₹2,000 and ₹10,000 crore) have put the MAUD department under scrutiny. If the allegations of forged records and violations of environmental and planning norms are substantiated, the government would find itself in a spot, as it would stand exposed to lapses in administrative oversight within the MAUD department.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
