HYDERABAD: The landmark judgement delivered by the Supreme Court declaring the disputed 1,191 acres of land in Manikonda Jagir as State government’s property has saved the treasury anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 80,000 crore.
Had the government lost the case, it would have had to pay the Waqf Board that sum. While there were many officials who worked to recover the land, which is presently valued anywhere between Rs 30 to 40 crore, an official who has once again come to the limelight is Rajendranagar Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Khanapur Chandrakala, 48, who has also helped recover other government lands in Hyderabad.
To be precise, the document of the 4,800 sq yd of the land belonging to Waqf Board was tampered with, using a whitener, taking the extent of the land to 1,654 acres in Manikonda Jagir, which covered government and private lands.
The Waqf Board had issued a gazette notification claiming the entire property belonged to the Board. Though certain forces kept polarising the issue, the matter went to the High Court where the verdict went in favour of the Waqf Board. Despite the forensic evidence indicating the tampering of the document, due to the delay in the filing of chargesheet, the government had suffered a setback in the verdict. The State government then appealed in the Supreme Court.
Chandrakala was instrumental in obtaining the report of the first land survey done in 1978, which showed the actual extent of the Waqf Board’s land. The Court has also noted that the second survey was done without following the Waqf rules and it dismissed all claims made by the Board.
This wasn’t the first case dealt with efficiency by Chandrakala. Had she not persistently pursued the 323-acre Hakimpet lands issue, prime properties in Banjara Hills, including the MLAs Colony, Apollo Hospitals, Film Nagar Society and others, it would have gone into the hands of land sharks by now. She was the Tehsildar of Shaikpet when the Waqf Board had issued a gazette notification claiming those 323 acres in survey Number 102 as Waqf land in 2013 by trying to connect Hakeem Shah Baba Dargah’s name with Hakimpet. The issue was brought up in the State Assembly and a House Committee was also formed back then. At a time when even legal experts were hesitant to pursue the case in fear of the powerful, she stood rock solid despite political pressure and had made the government take ownership of the case.
She proved that the Muntakhab document submitted by Waqf Board was fake by approaching the CCLA and State Archives, which prompted the High Court to grant a stay on the gazette notification. The case is still ongoing.
Whether it was 200 acres of land in Kokapet which was claimed to have been Nizam’s property before getting struck down by the Supreme Court, or 198 acres of land in Puppalguda originally meant to be assigned to refugees, which was won by the State government in 2019; Chandrakala has played a key role in saving government lands.
Serving as the Land Protection Tehsildar in 2010, she got 120 encroachments on government lands demolished and resumed to the government, where Anganwadi schools, hostels and other government institutions were constructed. She is currently overseeing the construction of 9,600 2BHK houses under the Dignity Housing scheme to accommodate the beneficiaries from 33 slums.
Chandrakala was born in an agricultural family in Khanapur village of Athmakur mandal in Wanaparthy district. After getting selected in Group-II service, her journey as a revenue official started as the Deputy Tehsildar of Musheerabad. With an unblemished record and fearless attitude, she continues to inspire many.
About the cases concerning government lands, she says that officials need to follow-up. They should treat such cases as their own. They should file all the papers and evidence required on time, as they are crucial to winning such cases, she says. She had received the State Merit Award from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on August 15, 2017.