‘1.5 lakh crore’ meets a contempt bench
Congress wants applause for HYDRAA’s haul. The High Court just asked the government to replace its chief over a 40-acre contempt row. The number doesn’t answer the order.
The court’s compliance question remains separate from the valuation claim.
Congress messaging first: an MP says HYDRAA safeguarded public assets “worth over ₹1.5 lakh crore.” That is a political claim, not a valuation backed by an audit, register or order in the record we could find. According to a report, it rests on his statement alone.
Now the record: on July 27, the Telangana High Court directed the state to replace HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath, arising from contempt proceedings tied to roughly 40 acres at Lothukunta involving Shanta Sriram Constructions. Reports say the court was not satisfied with an apology and told Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju to identify a replacement. Earlier hearings had already pulled HYDRAA up for acting beyond its brief on private land despite judicial directions.
HYDRAA, for its part, has publicly said Lothukunta involves distinct government parcels and that revenue officials are surveying; it even put a ₹10,000 crore tag on the fenced government land there. That still doesn’t convert Congress’s citywide ₹1.5 lakh crore talking point into evidence, and it does not answer the court’s direction on compliance with orders in this case. Separate reports peg 63 contempt matters linked to Ranganath — an attributed count, not a docket we could independently retrieve. Ranganath has said he will contest the cases and has faith in the judiciary.
The BJP isn’t the hero here either; none of its Delhi sermons about “rule of law” supplied the valuation, the survey map, or the compliance record HYDRAA needs in court. Telangana needs institutions that protect public land and also obey binding orders — at the same time, not alternately. Congress can keep waving a number; the High Court just asked for a replacement.