HYDRAA chief stays put; 40 acres stay disputed

The Telangana High Court’s Division Bench has temporarily put on hold a single judge’s direction to replace HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath. The protection is reported to continue until the next hearing on November 3, 2026. The Bench also directed Ranganath and M/s Shanta Sriram Constructions Private Limited to maintain status quo over about 40 acres in Lothkunta. (The News Minute; The South Now)

The single judge, Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti, had on July 27 directed Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju to relieve Ranganath and identify a replacement in contempt proceedings brought by the company. The order said HYDRAA personnel, revenue officials, police and machinery entered the property and demolished temporary structures, calling it “willful, deliberate, intentional disobedience” of court orders. It also said the property was private land “as per the material on record”. (Indian Kanoon)

HYDRAA and Ranganath have denied interfering with the land, saying the agency acted to protect government property following revenue inputs. The Division Bench’s intervention is interim relief, not a final ruling on either the contempt allegations or competing title claims. The exact wording of that order was not available in the material reviewed. For now, the replacement order is paused and the land remains exactly where the paperwork left it: disputed.