Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has issued notices to senior IAS officer Naveen Mittal and several others in connection with a criminal case alleging forgery, conspiracy, and illegal transfer of prime government land in Guddimalkapur, Hyderabad.
The dispute revolves around Survey No. 284/6 in Guddimalkapur village, Nanalnagar land that had been notified as Evacuee Property under Government Order No. 388, dated December 20, 1954.
According to the complainant, Shanti Agarwal, Mittal and a group of public officials and private individuals conspired to manipulate official land records and obtain a fraudulent No Objection Certificate (NOC), reclassifying the property as ‘Non-Evacuee’—all without her knowledge.
Agarwal filed a criminal complaint before the XII Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who took cognizance of the charges against more than two dozen individuals, including accused A2, A3, A4, A9 through A23, and A40 to A42. However, the court held back on proceeding against Mittal (A1) and two other officials (A5 and A7), citing the need for prior government sanction under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Agarwal said she submitted a request for that sanction on April 26, 2024, but the Telangana Chief Secretary failed to respond within the three-month window mandated by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Vineet Narain case. She has since approached the High Court, challenging what she called deliberate inaction.
Justice K. Lakshman, who heard the petition, issued notices to Mittal and the other accused, and ordered the matter to be combined with related writ appeals pending before the court.
Meanwhile, in a separate but connected criminal petition, Agarwal argued that no prior sanction was needed in the first place—pointing out that the alleged offences, especially the illegal occupation and commercial exploitation of public land, had nothing to do with Mittal’s official duties.
The petition also accused Mittal, along with co-accused Hussain Bee (A2) and Atkher Hussain (A3), of directly collecting rent from the disputed land. After reviewing the submissions, Justice N. Tukaramji issued notices requiring responses from all named parties.