The High Court has, suo motu, impleaded principal secretary (revenue), Hyderabad district collector and the Jagir administrator of the state as party respondents to the petitions pending before it to pass a final decree on Paigah properties in Somajiguda in Hyderabad.
Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao ordered the registry to implead the above officials as parties to the litigation in the larger public interest by allowing an application of Syed Mujtaba Ali seeking to implead him as respondent to the applications for passing of final decree on Paigah properties.
The judge took the decision to implead the officials after noticing the observation in a judgement by a division bench of the Hingh Court with regard to Paigah properties.
The division bench conjecture and asked whether the decree holders would be entitled to all parks,public roads, lanes, bridges, rivers, ditches, streams, tanks, canals, ponds,lakes etc., which would otherwise vest with the government.
The observation was made by the division bench after it become aware of the decree holders who were claiming village after village in Ranga Reddy District and locality after locality in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
Going along the observations, Ramachandra noticed that in the beginning only “Soma-jiguda” was mentioned at Item No. 236 as a Maktha in Schedule ‘A’ and there was no mention of Survey numbers or boundaries in it.
Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao felt that the claim in Survey no.1 to 40 of Somajiguda in respect of which the application for final decree was filed, might possibly include government properties, public roads, lanes, parks, many private buildings, bridges, ditches, etc.
Apart from this, there could be thousands of private properties in the villages which are incorporated by the decree holders in the schedule to the preliminary decree. The division bench suspected a fraud in the claiming of properties by the decree holders.