The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Defence officials, lawyers at loggerheads

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Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Defence officials, lawyers at loggerheads

Lawyers charge Defence Estate Officer with trying to encroach upon court land

Estate officials accused of demolishing six sheds belonging to lawyers
Defence officials contend that a section of lawyers are misinterpreting facts

HYDERABAD: The land tussle between Defence Estate authorities and Secunderabad Civil Court lawyers and judicial staff further flared up on Tuesday. The lawyers held a protest demonstration denouncing the alleged “high-handed” behaviour of the Estate Officer and charged him with trying to encroach upon the court land.

Defence Estate Officer (DEO) S. Balakrishna, however, stuck to his guns and said a compound wall was being built on their land. He reiterated that there was illegal trespassing and the newly built wall demolished. Both parties on Monday evening filed complaints against each other with the police.

The clash also forced Defence authorities to dust their decades-old maps and the leased land papers to have a correct picture on the extent of property demarcated for the court complex and extent of the land encroached.

Meeting today

The matter was also said to have reached the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court and official sources said a meeting would be held with both the warring parties on Wednesday to find an amicable solution.

Earlier in the day, president of the Bar Association of Secunderabad Court T. Raju charged estate officials with demolishing six sheds belonging to the lawyers.

“They assured that court land would not be touched but have tried to occupy 200 sq.yards surreptitiously during holidays.

“The sheds are auctioned and the rent of Rs. 2,000 is collected by the court. The SCB office too was once a court complex built in 1874 and the entire area of five acres was granted by the erstwhile Nizam for the court,” he claimed.

While shouting slogans against the DEO, Mr. Raju and his colleagues also claimed that the higher judicial officials of the city civil courts had visited the site and wanted action against those taking up the “illegal wall construction”. Even the First Additional Chief Judge Muthyam Naidu, who filed the case, maintained that land documents in possession of the 12th fast-track court clearly indicated that the court was the land-owner.

The Defence officials asserted that a section of lawyers were misinterpreting facts. The Cantt. Board office functioned as a court complex when the Estate Officer was also the District Magistrate and that was till the Cantt. Act came into force in 1924.

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