Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Friday ruled that land voluntarily given free of cost for a public purpose cannot later be reclaimed by the original owner on the ground that the govt had illegally occupied it.Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka delivered the ruling while hearing a dispute over three acres of land at Kandlakoya in Medchal district, which Sri Abhishek Steels and Power Limited had handed over to the electricity department in the 1980s for establishing a substation to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the factory.The court dismissed a petition filed by the company seeking removal of the substation and restoration of the land. It also rejected another petition challenging a notice issued by Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL) demanding payment of about ₹1.27 crore towards electricity dues. While passing the order, the judge clarified that any dispute relating to rights or compensation over the land should be pursued before a civil court and not through the high court’s writ jurisdiction. Senior counsel Dammalapati Srinivas, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the company had consented to set up the substation on its land on the condition that electricity would be supplied through a special feeder line. However, power was later supplied through a regular line, he contended. He further submitted that the company faced financial distress due to adverse market conditions and mounting loans, leading to its assets being auctioned by banks. In these circumstances, the company withdrew its earlier consent and sought directions for land acquisition and compensation, arguing that the land was neither registered nor formally acquired under the Land Acquisition Act.Opposing the plea, TGSPDCL counsel N Sridhar Reddy argued that there was no assurance of a special feeder line and that the consent letter clearly recorded the electricity board as the owner of the land. He added that the only condition stipulated was that the land should not be sold without the factory’s consent.After examining the consent letter, the court held that the company could not reclaim land that had been given free of cost for establishing the substation and dismissed the petition. The court also upheld the disconnection notice issued to a plot in Srinagar Colony for non-payment of electricity dues of ₹1.28 crore, observing that since the factory had later been acquired through a bank auction and a fresh connection obtained, the earlier dues must be cleared and the court could not interfere with the notice.
