Bhoodan land transactions case: Telangana HC issues notices to 76 respondents, including IPS, IAS officers

Hyderabad: Despite the fact that the valuable Bhoodan lands in Nagaram village of Maheshwaram mandal are on the restricted list and are referred to as "Gairan lands" in the revenue records, the Telangana High Court on Thursday voiced serious concerns over senior government officials acquiring them.

Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy sent summons to IAS and IPS officers and their family members who purchased the property, requesting them to respond as to why an inquiry by the CBI or ED was not ordered.

Top officials received notices

Top officials who received notices in the matter include Navin Mittal IAS, D. Amoy Kumar IAS, S Harish IAS, Ravi Gupta IPS, Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat IPS, T. Srinivas Rao IPS, Sowmya Mishra IPS, Swati Lakra IPS, and Tarun Joshi IPS. The names of certain high officials' wives were also included on the list of respondents.

The CBI, ED, Union Home Ministry, and DoPT were also given notices by the judge to reply to a petition that called for action against the authorities for egregious infractions and to conduct the CBI and ED investigation.

The judge directed the Ranga Reddy District Collector and District Registrar to include the lands in Sy. Nos. 181, 182, 194, and 195 of Nagaram, Maheshwaram mandal, Ranga Reddy district, are on the list of prohibited properties, in light of the serious allegations made against people in positions of power and the potential misuse of their power for vested interest.

In addition, the court ordered that these lands not be altered, changed, or alienated in any way until further instructions were given. The court ruled that the petitioner may not withdraw the writ petition without the consent of the court due to the grave accusations made against senior public officials. In order to prevent the writ petition from being withdrawn, he instructed the High Court Registry to endorse it.

In a petition submitted to Justice Bhaskar Reddy, Birla Mahesh made grave claims of widespread fraud, including the use of forged documents, the manipulation of revenue records, and unlawful land transfers that were purportedly made possible by senior IAS and IPS officers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh working in concert with revenue and registration officials.

Lands owned by Bhoodan Board

The petitioner contended that the lands in Nagaram village's Survey Nos. 181, 182, 194, and 195 belong to the Bhoodan lands that are owned by the Bhoodan Board. The respondents bought sizable land parcels in their names and the names of their relatives in violation of the Bhoodan Act, even though they were aware of the characteristics of land.

Additionally, it was argued that although complaints had been filed with Telangana's Chief Minister's Office (CMO) and the Central Vigilance Commission, no action had been taken.

Although the land was officially classified as prohibited under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, senior counsel L Ravichander, representing the petitioner, contended that this manipulation allowed the unauthorized transfer of land to a number of private individuals because it was classified as government and Bhoodan land.

Numerous sales transactions were allegedly carried out and recorded with the help of dishonest officials and well-known purchasers, such as bureaucrats. The court was made aware of the manipulation of land records, the fabrication of bogus inheritance claims, and the illegal issuance of Pattadar Passbooks by Ravichander during the arguments.

The attorney also contended that the higher authorities, including the principal secretary and others, had abused the Dharani digital site and the erroneously issued 13-B certificates, which are intended to regularize unregistered sale deeds, also known as Saida Bainama. The petitioner alleges that they were the target of a harassment campaign instead of obtaining assistance from the authorities.

The senior attorney informed the court that he had received over ten legal notices, including threats of legal action and defamation claims of up to one crore, unless public apologies were made within 24 hours. The attorney also asked the court to provide the petitioner protection under the 2014 Whistleblowers Protection Act, as the petitioner is being victimized for disclosing the higher officials' illegalities.

He drew attention to the fact that some survey numbers that contained Bhoodan lands were left out yet still needed the courts' protection. After taking into account the arguments, the judge halted the purchase transaction for the contested land and sent notices to all 76 respondents, both official and informal. They must all submit a counter on or before June 12, 2025.