HC Gives Telangana Govt Last Chance to File Stand in Banjara Hills Land Case
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday granted the state government a final three-week opportunity to submit its official stand regarding the controversial regularisation of valuable government land at NBT Nagar, Road No. 12, Banjara Hills.
A division bench granted the time as a "last indulgence" to Additional Advocate-General Imran Khan to file an affidavit setting out the state's position. The bench specifically instructed the government to explain the steps taken by the department concerned between December 10, 2025, and August 2026, pursuant to an earlier court order. The case is scheduled for its next hearing on September 3.
The order came during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed in 2024 by Gadeela Raghuveer Reddy, represented by counsel Y. Shreyas Reddy. The petition challenges the validity of GO Ms. No. 56, issued by the revenue department on May 23, 2023.
According to the petitioner, the government order permitted the regularisation of 1,161 square yards in Survey No. 129/1 and New Survey No. 140 in favour of K. Venkateswara Rao, son of former MP and government adviser K. Keshava Rao, at a rate of ₹2,500 per square yard. In the same locality, another parcel of 425 square yards in Survey No. 129 and New Survey No. 403 was regularised in favour of Vijayalaxmi Gadwal, former mayor and daughter of Keshava Rao, at ₹350 per square yard.
The petitioner contended that these regularisations violated Article 14 of the Constitution and ran contrary to the state’s land regularisation policy, pointing out that other similarly placed applicants were required to pay substantially higher amounts. Counsel Shreyas Reddy submitted that the regularisations were executed by invoking amendments meant for notified slum areas, granting the prime property at nominal rates rather than the prevailing basic rate.
According to the petitioner, the applicable rate under the regularisation policy was approximately ₹60,300 per square yard, while the market value of land at NBT Nagar in Banjara Hills had escalated to several crore rupees.
During an earlier hearing, the division bench questioned whether similar benefits were being uniformly offered to other citizens seeking regularisation of government land, emphasizing that government policies must apply equally to all. On Tuesday, the bench noted that despite the passage of nearly eight months and repeated adjournments, the state had failed to place its stand on record, prompting the final deadline.
