HYDERABAD: Two separate single judge benches of the Telangana High Court on Thursday issued notices to senior IAS officer Naveen Mittal in connection with the issuance of no objection certificates (NOCs) for evacuee property located in Survey No 284/6, Nanal Nagar, Gudimalkapur in the city. The NOCs were allegedly issued during his tenure as the Collector of Hyderabad district.
The action stems from two separate petitions filed by petitioner Shanti Agarwal. In the first petition, she challenged the inaction of the state government in prosecuting Naveen Mittal despite the High Court previously observing irregularities in the issuance of the NOC.
She had formally approached the chief secretary on April 26, 2024, seeking sanction for prosecution under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). However, even after the lapse of the three-month deadline mandated by the Supreme Court in the Vineet Narain case, the chief secretary neither granted nor rejected the request for sanction.
In the second petition, Agarwal contested a decision of the trial court which had kept in abeyance the cognisance proceedings against Mittal and other public servants due to the pending sanction under Section 197 CrPC.
The petitioner alleged that the NOCs were issued illegally to third parties in criminal collusion with other accused persons. She claimed that forged and fabricated documents were used and that the NOCs were issued with false recitals. She also alleged that objections raised by her were recorded without her being served any notice or given an opportunity to be heard. The NOC proceedings allegedly went so far as to declare the title and possession in favour of the applicants, effectively undermining her own claim to the property.
Agarwal asserted that the entire process was aimed at misclassifying the disputed land as “non-evacuee” property, thereby nullifying her title which is based on GO No 388 dated December 20, 1954. This government order had declared the subject land as evacuee property, forming the basis of her claim.
The two writ petitions came up for hearing before separate Single Judge Benches — one headed by Justice K Lakshman and the other by Justice N Tukaramji. After hearing the submissions, both benches issued notices to Mittal.