HC to HYDRAA: change the guard
Justice Jukanti Anil Kumar has told the Telangana government to replace HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath amid contempt proceedings linked to a 40-acre Lothkunta land dispute. BRS called it a slap for the Congress government; the state hasn’t bothered to explain what HYDRAA was doing on a court-protected site.
The High Court directed the Telangana government to replace the HYDRAA commissioner amid contempt proceedings.
The Telangana High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to replace HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath, in contempt proceedings arising from a 40-acre property dispute at Lothkunta. Multiple reports say the court took exception to HYDRAA turning up on land the petitioner says is protected by earlier orders, and rejected an apology sought from Ranganath. According to ThePrint, the judge said the officer had “become a law unto himself” and noted dozens of pending contempt matters naming him — 63 by their count, which are cases on file, not 63 convictions.
The case tracks back to M/s Shanta Sriram Constructions’ petition. South First reports the court was shown photos of HYDRAA vehicles at the site; days earlier the court had even allowed Army personnel to guard the property and warned HYDRAA officials could be taken into custody if they entered in breach of directions. In June, the court had already said HYDRAA were not “super cops of governance” and could not enter private property without lawful authority — a line that aged fast.
BRS welcomed the order. Its general secretary R.S. Praveen Kumar called it “a slap on the face of the govt” and on Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, pointing to alleged excesses in Lothkunta, Bahadur Guda and Ameenpur. That is his allegation; the court’s order here is narrower: replace the commissioner while contempt proceedings continue.
Ranganath, for his part, alleged “land mafias and encroachers” misled courts, naming Shanta Sriram and claiming encroachment on government land and damage to trees and rock formations — his claim, not a judicial finding. He says the 63 contempt cases stem from action against such actors and that he will contest them legally.
What the BJP-led Centre has to say about a state anti-encroachment outfit being ticked off for straying beyond powers is, predictably, nothing at all. And the Congress government in Telangana has not bothered to explain why its flagship HYDRAA was anywhere near a court-guarded plot in the first place.