The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court to freshly decide the dispute over the ownership of the controversial Sadavarthi lands, after the Tamil Nadu government took a strong stand in the court that the property belongs to the State.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra acknowledged the arguments made by senior advocate Subramonium Prasad, for Tamil Nadu, that the land does not belong to the Sadavarthi endowment.
Mr. Prasad submitted that the State government has already moved the Hyderabad High Court, informing it that the property belongs to Tamil Nadu.
“The High Court shall decide the matter afresh taking into consideration the stand of the State of Tamil Nadu as Mr. Subramonium Prasad, learned senior counsel emphatically claims that the property belongs to the State of Tamil Nadu and not vested with the endowment and, therefore, it could not have been auctioned,” the Supreme Court ordered, disposing of the case.
Days after the Supreme Court ordered fresh auction of the Sadavarti lands on September 18, the Tamil Nadu government had moved it for a stay of the auction.
‘Unclaimed property’
The State government had argued that the lands in question were located at Thalambur village in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu. The lands have been lying as “unclaimed property” for the past 40 years. It had argued that a litigation on the patta (title) of the property was pending in the Madras High Court.
Earlier, on September 12, the apex court had rejected a plea by alleged TDP activist Mandala Sanjeeva Reddy to stop fresh auction of Sadavarti lands, saying there should be no attempts made to close the eyes of the judiciary. The apex court had even upheld the decision of the Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court in August to hold fresh bids by fixing the minimum price as Rs. 27.44 crore for the land.
The apex court had ordered the petitioner in the High Court, YSRCP MLA for Mangalagiri constituency, Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, represented by advocate Sravan Kumar, to deposit ₹27.44 crore with the Endowments Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh towards the offer made in the court regarding purchase of Sadavarthi lands, to participate in the fresh auction. Mr. Sanjeeva Reddy, represented by senior advocate V. Giri, had approached the court challenging the High Court order for holding fresh auctions.
The Mangalagiri MLA had moved the High Court complaining that the 83 acres of the land was sold in an auction, in which a limited number of bidders participated, for a meager amount of ₹22.44 crore. He had alleged foul play in fixing the auction price, and sought fresh auctions. The AP government, however, had contended that the best price was offered in the open auction.