HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court, on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, stayed the e-auction of 42 acres of another parcel of land in Puppalaguda after a petitioner claimed that some lands made available for auction were allotted to his father, a displaced person from Pakistan, under the Displaced Persons Act, 1955.
The bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar, stayed the auction for the land falling in survey number 301 of Gandipet mandal in Rangareddy district. The lot numbers of the lands up for auction were 25, 26, 28, 29 and 30. The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) had issued a notification for e-auction of the said land on September 28, 2021.
A writ petition was filed in the High Court by Narayan Das Rizwani against the TSIIC’s notification for e-auction of government lands in Puppalaguda and Khanamet for plots in survey number 301. Counsel for the petitioner B Mayur Reddy argued that the petitioner’s father was displaced from Pakistan and was allotted 42 acres of land in survey no. 301, at Puppalaguga village under the Displaced Persons Act, 1955. Hence, his land did not constitute government land.
Reddy further informed the court that the same stand was taken by the Supreme Court in the RP Malani vs State of Telangana case, wherein the Apex Court held that the State government was the only custodian of evacuee land from 1980 under the Displaced Persons Act, 1955 and it had to ensure that lands were allotted under the above Act. This does not make the State government the owner of such evacuee lands, the Apex Court had held.