Prime property at Gopanapalli worth Rs 50 crore, which belongs to the government, is slipping into private hands thanks to the generosity of some Ranga Reddy district revenue officials. Indirectly, an order issued by joint collector M. Jagannadham has helped the private party gain control over the property. G. Subba Rao, the controversial Serilingampally tahsildar (mandal revenue officer) took advantage of the order of the joint collector to help the private party. Mr Rao had been shunted out by collector V. Seshadri after being charged with irregularities in giving possession of several other properties, over which the government claims ownership, to private individuals.
Apparently because of the political clout of Mr Rao, the government overruled the collector and reposted him to the same place. Mr Seshadri refused to allow him to discharge his duties. When Mr Rao was Serilingampally MRO he had issued an order (B/2545/2003) in 2004 taking back five acres in Survey No. 36/AA/5 from one K. Babaiah for allotment to the Central University. The land was assigned to Mr Babaiah, and as per rules, assigned land cannot be sold. However, one Shiv Bhushan claimed that assignee Babaiah had sold him the land. He approached the RDO seeking cancellation of the MRO’s orders resuming the land. He claimed that Babaiah was an ex-serviceman, and he was permitted to sell land after 10 years.
RDO B.V. Ratnakumar in his order (D/2679/2010) upheld the resumption of land and ruled that there was no evidence to show that the land was assigned to Babaiah because of his ex-serviceman status, dismissing the petitioner’s contention that the land could be sold by Mr Babaiah after 10 years. The joint collector, who is the next appellate authority, set aside the resumption orders and asked Mr Rao, who had become Serilingampally tahasildar, to hold a fresh probe.
The JC said he set aside the orders as they went against the principles of natural justice. “Mr Rao took full advantage of the JC's order and dropped all resumption proceedings. He also okayed changes in the records making Shiv Bhushan the land owner. When this newspaper brought the irregularity to the notice of the collector, Mr Seshadri directed the joint collector to cancel Mr Rao's order favouring the private persons and issue fresh orders resuming the land.