‘Stick to the policy’: Telangana HC questions concessions in Banjara Hills land regularisation for GHMC mayor, brother

The petitioner’s counsel, Shreyas Reddy Y, contended that the GO regularised illegally encroached government land in a notified slum area of NBT Nagar of Banjara Hills in Hyderabad in favour of Gadwal and Rao at arbitrarily low and subsidised rates.

The land parcels of 1,161 square yard and 425 sq yd were regularised in favour of Rao and Gadwal, teh children of Congress veteran K Keshava Rao who is currently adviser (public affairs) to the state government, on the payment of Rs 2,500 per sq yd and Rs 350 per sq yd, respectively, by taking the market value as of 1998 and 1993, instead of the market rate of Rs 60,300 per sq yd prevailing in May 2023 when the application was made.

The bench emphasised that there were clear deviations made in the case of the private respondents, which it “did not approve of”. “We are not saying remove them, but charge them at the rate which everyone else has to pay… We only want you to stick to the policy you have framed and not make exceptions to anyone,” the bench observed.

The bench noted that the basic payable amounts as per the regularisation policy would be “as on June 2, 2014”, and this was substituted in the amended GO 56 of 2023 to “as on the date of the application”. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the application was made on May 18, 2023.

Appearing for the state, Additional Advocate General Md Imran Khan, said the two applicants already had a registered sale deed of the encroached land. Khan added that such a low rate was applied as the first application was received in 2002, and the applicants had electricity connections as far back as 1993.

“The department has applied a careful mind to the case of these petitioners. The scheme permits the regularisation of all those who were encroachers as of June 2, 2014. Everyone had land in their possession from different periods of time. Why this deviation in the case of private respondents?” the bench asked again, adding that the reasons provided by the AAG were not satisfactory.

The bench then concluded that if the rate per square yard on the date of application differs, the applicants will have to pay up.

The matter is scheduled to be heard again on January 6, 2026, with the Telangana Government expected to bring its final stand on record by then.