The Supreme Court on Friday permitted the Telangana Government to withdraw the amount submitted in the case whereby the Apex Court dismissed the claims of Gulf Oil Corporation over 540 acres at Kukatpally holding that the land belongs to Udasin Mutt of Husaini Alam under the Endowments Department.
The miscellaneous application was filed for a direction to release the amount where one of the FDR maturity dates is 07.12.2022.
Senior Counsel Parag P Tripathi appearing for Gulf Oil Ltd. sought another four weeks as the review petition filed in October 2022 is still pending before the Supreme Court, to which the bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath replied, “Let the amount be released and let the review be pending. The matter was decided on merits, and you know what is likely to be the outcome of a review.”
On September 13, 2022, the bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Vikram Nath passed an order in favour of the Telangana Government regarding the 540 acres of endowment land located near Kukatpally ‘Y’ Junction. The market value of the land is approximately Rs 15,000 crore. The lands were initially donated to Udasin Mutt by Kamalapathi Baba Sahib in 1313 Fasli (1904). The Mutt is located at Hussaini Alam in the city but it had 540.30 acres of land in Kukatpally ‘Y’ Junction. As per the Muntakab (muslim history), the land was donated to the Udasin Mutt started by the elder son of Guru Nanak by priest Kamalapathi Baba in 1904. In 1961, the land was given on lease to Indian Detonators Ltd, which eventually changed its name to Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd in 2002, for the period of 99 years in four phases in 1964, 1966, 1969, 1978. However, the lease agreement was violated, and real estate activities commenced in the land along with 300 acres of its own land. In order to initiate the said activities, a loan was taken from SBI by mortgaging the leasehold rights thus creating encumbrance over the lease property. Due to lack of care on the part of the lessees, 20 acres of land has been converted into a graveyard. Therefore, the Mutt cancelled the lease to the company.
The Andhra Pradesh Endowments Tribunal, Hyderabad observed that the said land in dispute belongs to the Udasin Mutt in 2011. The verdict was challenged before Andhra Pradesh High Court wherein the court upheld the decision of the Tribunal and directed the company the authorities to evict the company from the land under the provisions of the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 which was trying to hold with the help of untenable lease deed.