HYDERABAD: In an ongoing legal tussle over 1,500 acres of prime property in survey number 1007 of Kukatpally, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan, has stayed the Sept 2023 order of a division bench of Telangana high court in respect of 74 acres of land. It said it will resolve the issue in July, summoning all related pleas and conduct a joint hearing. The value of the 74 acres of land alone would be over 7,500 crore.
According to an order pronounced by a single judge of high court on March 31, 2023, Pilli Balaiah and five others were cultivating the land from 1962 and purchased 81 acres from land owner Mir Fazeelath Hussain on April 4, 1974, through an unregistered sale deed.
On an application, the MRO of Balanagar had regularised the unregistered sale deed in Dec 1990 and issued a validation certificate for 74 acres. Deputy collector and tahsildar mentioned that the widow of Mir Fazeelath Hussain had confirmed it in her statement that her husband had entered into an agreement of sale with Balaiah for an extent of 81 acres in 1962.
As per entries in the pahanies, names of Pilli Balaiah and five others were found as actual cultivators. The single judge, in his order, directed the authorities to enter the names of the Pilli family members in revenue records and issue certificates to that extent. Aditya Construction took the land for development from the kin of Balaiah.
Contending that they have rights over 350 acres of land in the same survey number, Prime Properties and others started raising rival claims and they claimed that Pilli family’s 74 acres were also part of their property.
Earlier, the Supreme Court, while dealing with a pleas of the contenders, ordered status quo till the issues were resolved. When Prime Properties challenged the order of the single judge before a division bench of the high court, the bench in April 2023 dismissed the plea, citing the Supreme Court order.
Meanwhile, two NRIs — Munirunnisa Begum and Sarfraz Jahan Begum — filed an appeal against the single judge order that directed the authorities to enter the names of the Pilli family on revenue records.
Another coordinate bench referred the matter to the single judge again asking him to hear the matter afresh after hearing these two NRIs also. The Pilli family appealed to the Supreme Court against the order.
Senior counsel L Narasimha Reddy argued the case of the Pilli family before the apex court and said that the coordinate bench should not have entertained the subsequent pleas in view of the finality attained in certain issues and also in view of an earlier bench order on the same issue.
The Supreme Court stayed the Sept 2023 order and posted the case to July for a conjoint hearing of all related pleas over the tussle.
