HYDERABAD: Asserting that the previous BRS government had fought the legal battle for nearly eight years to safeguard the 550 acres at Miyapur, former minister T Harish Rao on Friday accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of taking credit for the Supreme Court verdict. He also questioned the Congress government’s decision to monetise the land, which he said was worth around Rs 60,000 crore.
In a statement, Harish Rao said Revanth had contradicted the Supreme Court’s records during his media briefing in Delhi by claiming that the previous BRS government had failed to defend the state’s interests in the case.
Harish Rao said the matter had reached the Supreme Court through an SLP in 2003 and was converted into a civil appeal in 2013. The Congress was in power during those years but had taken no steps to protect the land, he alleged.
After the formation of Telangana, then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided that the valuable property in the heart of Hyderabad should remain with the government. In 2015, the BRS government engaged senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan to represent the state, Harish Rao said.
Vaidyanathan appeared for the government from April 7, 2015, and argued for the protection of the land. The BRS government pursued the case continuously for nearly eight years, from 2015 to 2023, placing petitions, affidavits and evidence before the Supreme Court, he said.
Harish Rao said the latest verdict was based on the legal principles laid down in the Trinity Infraventures case, involving Goldstone Prasad. The state government had secured a favourable verdict in that case on June 15, 2023, when
the BRS was in power, he stated. Quoting a passage from the Supreme Court judgment on Miyapur, Harish Rao said the court had referred to the relevant provisions of the AP Abolition of Jagirs Regulations and the Atiyat Inquiries Act, drawing on its earlier judgment in Trinity Infraventures Ltd v M S Murthy (2023).
He said the BRS government’s efforts had laid the foundation for the latest verdict and described Revanth’s press conference as an attempt to take credit for work done by the previous government.
Harish alleged that Revanth had convened the media briefing to justify the proposed sale of the land, rather than to explain the legal outcome.
