Telangana HC halts all work on disputed 400-acre land near UoH

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the state government to halt all development work on a disputed 400-acre land parcel adjacent to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) until April 3. The order was issued on Wednesday by a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara while hearing a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) opposing the clearing of land and uprooting of trees at the Kancha Gachibowli site.

The petitioners challenged the state government’s decision to allocate the land to the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC), arguing that it violated the Forest Conservation Act. Development work at the site began on March 30 following a government order. However, the court intervened after S Niranjan Reddy, counsel for one of the petitioners, urged immediate action, citing continued tree-cutting.

Advocate General Sudarshan Reddy countered the claims, asserting that the petitions relied on Google images, which the Supreme Court has ruled inadmissible as evidence. He further stated that the land in question does not belong to Hyderabad Central University and has always been designated for industrial development.

Niranjan Reddy informed the court that under the Water, Land, and Trees Act (WALTA), no tree exceeding one meter in height should be removed without permission from the appropriate authorities. He also highlighted large-scale deforestation across the site, warning of an "ecological disaster." The petitioners demanded that the government submit National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) satellite images from the past month to verify claims of environmental destruction.

Another petitioner’s counsel argued that regardless of ownership, the land’s biodiversity was at risk due to the "narrow economic interests" of the authorities. The TGIIC, meanwhile, maintained that it had legally established its ownership of the land in court and reiterated that UoH, a central university, does not hold any claim to the disputed area.

Amid the legal battle, student groups from UoH continue their protests against the Telangana government’s plans to develop IT infrastructure and other projects on the site. The case is scheduled for further hearing on April 3.

With PTI inputs