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SC hands over disputed land in Telangana to anti-Maoist force
SC t using its powers under Constitution Article 142 gave anti-naxal force Greyhound Commandos the possession over a plot on a disputed land in Telangana
The Supreme Court on Tuesday used its extraordinary powers under Constitution Article 142 in favour of country’s elite anti-naxal force, Greyhound Commandos, allowing them to get possession over a plot of disputed land in Telangana, holding that occupation of the land by a security agency of paramount national importance was in public interest.
Article 142 is sparingly resorted to by the top court as this gives it an overriding power to do “complete justice” between parties in a dispute. It is even more rare for such a power being exercised by Court to settle matters relating to land disputes. The last known instance when this power was exercised to settle a land dispute was in November 2019 in the Ayodhya title suit verdict. Using this provision of the Constitution, the Muslim parties were allotted separate land for construction of a mosque.
The present case related to a 29-year-old dispute over land in village Manchirevula in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana allotted in 1953 by the then government to landless poor people. In 1961, they even obtained titles to the land but in 1991, most assignees of land transferred their right to a land dealer MA Baksh by executing general power of attorney agreements (GPA). This was prohibited under the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977.
In 1993, when the state police sought this land for setting up training camp for the elite Greyhounds Commandos, the mischief committed by the original assignees came to light and the state, after a protracted legal battle recovered possession over the land in 2007.
The dispute travelled through the Telangana high court and finally reached the Supreme Court which noticed that the Greyhounds Commandos were currently occupying the land. The Court issued notice to this elite police force and made them party to the pending proceeding in September 2022.
In its final verdict delivered on Tuesday, the bench of justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari upheld the action of the state government to take back the land and went a step further to pass directions giving full right to the Greyhounds to continue to have possession of the land in question with a blanket stay on any civil court or high court entertaining a petition to oust them.
The 97-page judgment written by justice Kant said, “A security agency of paramount national importance currently occupies the subject land in public interest.” Vesting the subject land in entirety to the state government, the Court used its Article 142 power and said, “On further allotment, its ownership and possessory rights, free from all encumbrances, stand transferred in favour of the Greyhounds.”
The bench ruling in the favout of the state and Greyhounds, said, “We are not oblivious to the fact that the parties have been litigating since the year 1994. During these decades, the subject land has acquired enormous value. Some of the documents on record do indicate that land mafia has already ousted the gullible assignees and now have vulture’s eyes on the land.”
