Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday, July 20, restrained the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) from taking any coercive action on 26.03 acres of land in Bahadurguda village near Shamshabad, part of nearly 650 acres proposed to be acquired by the state government for the bullet train project.
Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy issued the interim order while hearing a lunch motion petition filed by Jakkidi Yadi Reddy and three others. The direction will remain in force until the next hearing. The court also directed the authorities to file their counters.
Senior counsel V. Raghunath, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the farmers had been in possession of the land since the late 1980s after purchasing it through registered sale deeds. He alleged that on July 18,
HYDRAA personnel entered the land with bulldozers and JCBs, demolished gates and fenced the entire extent, preventing the owners from accessing and cultivating their fields.
The petitioners told the court that they had been raising crops on the land for years and that the sudden fencing had disrupted agricultural activities.
Arguing for the state, Advocate General A. Sudershan Reddy contended that the petitioners had failed to produce valid ownership documents. He maintained that the land belonged to the government and had remained under its protection since 1950. He also argued that HYDRAA’s action related to a different survey number and remarked that “this is how innocuous orders are obtained and put the state in trouble.”
The disputed land forms part of around 650 acres identified for acquisition for the proposed bullet train corridor.
More farmers approach HC
A fresh batch of petitions has also been filed by 85 farmers from Bahadurguda, who accused HYDRAA, police and revenue officials of carrying out similar action on their properties. The petitioners claimed they hold valid ownership documents and alleged that authorities fenced their lands and demolished structures despite decades of cultivation and existing irrigation facilities.
The High Court is expected to take up their pleas shortly.
