Telangana High Court
Nama Sujatha vs The State Of Telangana on 23 July, 2025
THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE T. MADHAVI DEVI
WRIT PETITION NO.19674 OF 2023
ORDER
In this Writ Petition, the petitioners are challenging the action of
the 2nd respondent in issuing notices dt.04.07.2023 and 12.07.2023 to
the 2nd petitioner and in not considering the explanations offered by the
2nd petitioner dt.07.07.2023 and 15.07.2023 respectively and in not
taking into consideration that the subject property has been transferred
in the name of the 2nd petitioner by the 1st petitioner vide gift deeds
Document Nos.8199 of 2022, 8200 of 2022, 8201 of 2022, 8202 of 2022
and 8203 of 2022 all dt.13.09.2022 and in dumping a container house in
the 2nd petitioner's property by erecting a name board in the name of
"Telangana Kreeda Pranganam", as illegal and arbitrary and
consequently to direct the respondents not to interfere with the
possession and enjoyment of the petitioners' house plots in total to an
extent of 1500 square yards situated at Ummapur Village, Chinthapally
Mandal, Nalgonda District and to pass such other order or orders.
2. Brief facts leading to the filing of the present Writ Petition are
that the 1st petitioner has filed the writ affidavit stating that the 2nd
petitioner and his father were in possession of the Grama Kantam land
for a long time without interruption from anybody except the unofficial
respondents, i.e., respondents No.6 to 10. It is submitted that there was
personal grudge developed by the 5th respondent towards the 2nd
petitioner as the 2nd petitioner had made a complaint against him before
the official respondents for misappropriation of funds of the Gram
Panchayat and therefore, he tried to interfere with the possession of the
subject property of the petitioners herein. It is submitted that the 2nd
petitioner and his father were living in the subject land and that the 2nd
petitioner had constructed a house and a cattle shed therein and the
Gram Panchayat has also issued house numbers and the petitioners are
paying the house tax. It is submitted that the said house got damaged
and due to old age, the 2nd petitioner has executed registered gift deeds
in favour of the 1st petitioner and the possession has been delivered to
her and that the Gram Panchayat has also allotted house numbers for the
subject house plots and that the 1st petitioner is paying house tax to the
Gram Panchayat. It is stated that the unofficial respondents had
demanded for sale of the house plots to them and since the 1st petitioner
refused to sell the same, they have made a complaint against the 2nd
petitioner to the 2nd respondent alleging that he has occupied the Grama
Kantam land and accordingly, the 2nd respondent issued a notice to the
2nd petitioner on 04.07.2023 to which the 2nd petitioner has submitted his
explanation on 07.07.2023 along with relevant documents. It is stated
that another notice dt.12.07.2023 was also issued to the 2nd petitioner,
who submitted his explanation on 15.07.2023 and thereafter, no orders
have been passed thereon. In the meantime, when the unofficial
respondents tried to occupy the subject land, the 1st petitioner has
approached the civil Court by filing O.S.No.111 of 2023 and an ad
interim injunction was granted in I.A.No.278 of 2023 by the Principal
Junior Civil Judge's Court at Devarakonda. It is submitted that
thereafter, the official respondents have dumped an iron container in the
petitioners' land by erecting a board in the name of "Telangana Kreeda
Pranganam" and therefore, the petitioners lodged a police complaint, but
since the police did not take any action, the petitioners have approached
this Court. It is submitted that the respondents are trying to dispossess
the petitioners from their peaceful possession of the subject land. It is
stated that even though the subject land is Grama Kantam land, it is not
the land of the Gram Panchayat and therefore, the action of the
respondents in issuing the notices claiming the land to be Gram
Panchayat land is illegal and arbitrary. In support of their contentions,
the petitioners placed reliance upon the judgments of this Court in the
case of Smt. Sagadapu Vijaya Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh1 and also
the latest decision of this Court in the case of Dodda Phathima Reddy
Vs. State of Telangana rep. by its Principal Secretary, Panchayat
Raj Department and others2 which, on the other hand, has relied upon
the decision of the Division Bench of this Court in the case of
Panchayat Secretary, Gram Panchayat, Bachupalli, Kandukur
Mandal, R.R.District Vs. Dodda Chinnappa Reddy and others 3.
They submitted that in view of the above judgments, the notices of the
respondents are also illegal and arbitrary and are contrary to the
judgments rendered by this Court. In support of their contention that the
land belongs to the 1st petitioner and that the 1st petitioner has been
paying house tax, the petitioners have filed various documents, such as
gift settlement deeds, house tax receipts, ownership certificates and
confirmation letter issued by the Panchayat Secretary, along with the
writ affidavit.
3. This Court, vide interim order dt.26.07.2023, has directed the
respondents not to alter the nature of the subject property until further
orders.
2012 SCC OnLine AP 114
W.P.No.32197 of 2024 and batch dt.20.01.2025
W.A.No.784 of 2018 dt.01.08.2022
4. The 4th respondent has filed his counter affidavit stating that the
claim of the petitioners is based on false and fabricated documents. The
allegations of the petitioners have been denied in toto and it is stated that
the 2nd petitioner worked as Sarpanch of the united Gram Panchayat,
Chakalisheripally Village 15 years ago and taking advantage of his
authority, he has manipulated the record since the land in question was
idle and hatched a plan and made it into plots and has created house
ownership certificate by forging the signature of the earlier Panchayat
Secretary M.Gowtham Krishna and by illegally stamping Gram
Panchayat seals to make it appear authentic. It is submitted that there is
no house existing in the subject property and therefore, the 2nd petitioner
has fabricated the house ownership certificates and the photographs filed
along with the material papers in the counter affidavit also show that
there are no houses as alleged to be existing in the said property. It is
submitted that FIR No.81 of 2023 has been registered against the 2nd
petitioner on the file of PS Chinthapally, Nalgonda District for the
offence punishable under Section 468 of IPC on 01.06.2023, but no
action has been initiated against the 2nd petitioner as he is highly
influential. It is submitted that the Sarpanch has already made a
complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Nalgonda for not taking any
action in Crime No.81 of 2023, but there is no action initiated against
the 2nd petitioner herein so far. It is submitted that after noticing the
illegal activities of the 2nd petitioner in trying to grab the Grama Kantam
land, the villagers and the Sarpanch have made a complaint to the
Tahsildar, Chinthapally on 19.04.2020 and also submitted complaints to
the 2nd respondent and the Revenue Divisional Officer, Devarakonda on
24.09.2020 and it is in accordance therewith that the 2nd respondent has
issued notices dt.04.07.2023 and 12.07.2023 respectively and the 4th
respondent and the petitioners were called to the office of the 2nd
respondent on 15.07.2023. It is further submitted that the Panchayat
Secretary namely Sri M.Gowtham Krishna has submitted information to
the Mandal Panchayat Officer, Chinthapally on 25.10.2022 that there is
no information about the ownership of the petitioners, i.e., Nama Narsi
Reddy, S/o Venkat Reddy. It is submitted that when Sri Narsi Reddy has
requested to register the house in an extent of Ac.0.10 guntas through
online, but the petitioners have not submitted any proof of existence of
the house, the Panchayat Secretary refused to make entries in the
revision register and also did not make any entries in e-panchayat site.
Thus, according to the 4th respondent, the 2nd respondent, after hearing
the petitioners, has noticed that the documents are forged and created by
the 2nd petitioner and therefore, the 2nd respondent was directed to file
criminal cases against the writ petitioners herein. It is also stated that the
villagers have conducted Grama Saba on 22.05.2023 and have
unanimously resolved to utilise the land under the illegal encroachment
of the petitioners for the purpose of Telangana Kreeda Pranganam and
for the purpose of construction of a new Gram Panchayat building and
also to use it for developmental activities and that the petitioners have
approached this Court by relying upon the forged documents and
therefore, the Writ Petition is liable to be dismissed. It is further stated
that O.S.No.111 of 2023 is against respondents No.5 to 10 and the 4th
respondent is not a party to the said suit and that the unofficial
respondents 5 to 10 are also in no way concerned with the land in
question. It is therefore prayed to vacate the interim orders. Along with
the counter affidavit, the revision register of the house tax of the Gram
Panchayat has been filed and the copies of the complaint and resolution
of the Grama Saba are also filed. Photographs are also filed with respect
to the subject land to show that there are no houses existing on the said
land.
5. The petitioners have also filed photographs to demonstrate that
the subject land belongs to the petitioners herein.
6. Having regard to the rival contentions and the material on record,
this Court finds that though the petitioners claim that there is a house
and they are paying house tax in respect of the subject property, the
photographs filed by both the petitioners as well as the respondents
show that there are no houses on the subject land. The land appears to be
open land and the petitioners also admit that it is located in Grama
Kantam. The judgments of this Court in various cases relied upon by the
learned counsel for the petitioners are to the effect that Grama Kantam
land is neither Government land nor does it belong to Gram Panchayat.
The 2nd petitioner claims to be in possession of the said land for a long
period and that he has gifted the property to his wife, i.e., the 1st
petitioner through registered documents. Though the 4th respondent
claims that the house tax receipts submitted by the petitioners are fake
and created, there is no finding of any investigating authorities regarding
the same. There seems to be claims and counter claims about the subject
property and the claim of possession of the writ petitioners over the
subject land can only be decided by the competent Civil Court. Further,
though criminal case has been booked about the alleged fake and created
documents, the same has not been decided as yet.
7. In view of the same, this Court is of the opinion that the nature of
the property should not be changed till the investigating authorities
submit a report about the documents submitted by the petitioners. If the
said documents are not found to be fake or created as alleged by the 4th
respondent, then the official respondents cannot take action against the
petitioners without following the due process of law. Both the
petitioners as well as the respondents are directed not to alter or change
the nature of the subject property till a decision is taken on the
documents submitted by the petitioners in respect of their property.
8. With the above directions, the Writ Petition is accordingly
disposed of. No order as to costs.
9. Pending miscellaneous petitions, if any, in this Writ Petition shall
stand closed.
___________________________
JUSTICE T. MADHAVI DEVI
Date: 23.07.2025
Svv
