The Telanganca High Court said that an interim order, if passed, would cause hardship to many “poor eligible persons”, including some petitioners, whose applications are pending consideration for allotment of house site pattasThe Telangana High Court has refused to grant any interim relief in a batch of petitions challenging the state government’s controversial demolition drive in Velugumatla village of Khammam district.Justice B Vijayasen Reddy, in his order on Wednesday, said that an interim order, if passed, would cause hardship to many “poor eligible persons”, including some of the petitioners, whose applications are pending consideration for allotment of house site pattas along with sanction for houses under Indiramma Indlu scheme.The judge, while hearing the displaced families who lost their homes during the demolition drive conducted recently, noted that though the entire process of allotment by the revenue department is being questioned by the counsel for the petitioners, even as some of the petitioners have already agreed to receive plots, and some of them have been rejected and applications of some of the petitioners are under consideration.“So when some of the petitioners are allotted plots and there is a possibility of allotment to some other petitioners, it would not be in the interest of justice to grant an interim order as of now,” the judge said.During the hearing, the Government Pleader informed the court that the applications of five of the petitioners were rejected since they own houses, while the applications of the other petitioners were pending consideration and their names were not found in the list of demolished houses.The GP also submitted that after the demolition drive was undertaken, 311 pattas were granted to people who had lost houses, and 101 persons have been sanctioned pattas under Indiramma Indlu.The petitioners’ counsel contended that the parcels of land in question were Bhoodan land, and hence only the secretary of the Bhoodan Board can issue pattas and challenge the validity of allotment of the pattas granted under the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977.Story continues below this adIn response, the Government Pleader submitted that there was some clerical error in issuing pattas, whereby it was shown that the assignment was made under G.O. Ms No 1406, and necessary corrections have been carried out to the patta certificates. After hearing both sides, the judge passed the order refusing to grant interim relief. The court directed the state government to file a detailed affidavit in the matter and posted the case for further hearing on April 15.On February 24, authorities, after classifying many residents as encroachers, launched a massive operation with police personnel and dozens of bulldozers to demolish around 700 to 1,000 houses. While the district administration and the Telangana Bhoodan Yagna Board claimed the land had been illegally encroached upon by land grabbers and “fake” beneficiaries. Many families in Vinoba Nagar and Navodaya Colony claimed they had lived there for over a decade, having built homes with their life savings on land they believed was legitimately allotted to them.Rahul V Pisharody is Assistant Editor with the Indian Express Online and has been reporting for IE on various news developments from Telangana since 2019. He is currently reporting on legal matters from the Telangana High Court. Rahul started his career as a journalist in 2011 with The New Indian Express and worked in different roles at the Hyderabad bureau for over 8 years. As Deputy Metro Editor, he was in charge of the Hyderabad bureau of the newspaper and coordinated with the team of city reporters, district correspondents, other centres and internet desk for over three years. A native of Palakkad in Kerala, Rahul has a Master's degree in Communication (Print and New Media) from the University of Hyderabad and a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. ... Read More © IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd