Telangana High Court had directed the State government to mutate 8.07 acres of land in Hafeezpet village of Serilingampally mandal in Ranga Reddy district, on the name of M/s Kraft Alloy Private Limited in all revenue records within four weeks.
Pronouncing verdict in a writ petition filed by the company, the HC imposed costs of ₹50,000 on Ranga Reddy district Collector and Serilingampally Tahsildar-cum-Joint Registrar. A bench of Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and T. Vinod Kumar observed the contention that State was the owner of the said land was “wholly vexatious and cannot be countenanced”.
The company purchased the land in an auction conducted by the authorised officer of M/s SREI Equipment Finance Limited, a finance company under the provisions of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI Act). It paid ₹102.60 crore. A Sale Certificate was also issued to the company to this effect a year ago.
The company claimed that, however, the Serilingampally Tahsildar declined to register the land on its name claiming that the said land in Hafeezpet belonged to the State government.
The company approached the HC challenging the officer’s contention. The company said that earlier such claims made by the State government were rejected by the HC in a preliminary decree in 1963. The government challenged this in Supreme Court on several occasions. At least six times, the government lost such pleas in the Apex court.
The bench observed that when the State government has no title to the said land, it had no business to include it in the list of lands prohibited for registration. Hence, Serilingampally Tahsildar cannot refuse to receive, register and release the Sale Certificate issued to the company, the judgement said.
The bench also rejected the government’s contention that it had power to take call on the title of a land under the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act -2020.
“There is no power conferred on any Authority under the said Statute to adjudicate questions of title,” the bench ruled.
