In an interesting twist to the allegations of encroachment of temple lands by former health minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Eatala Rajender, the Telangana high court on Thursday refused to stall inquiry into the issue by the state government.
The high court was reacting to a petition filed by one Sada Kesava Reddy seeking dismissal of a government order issued to conduct an inquiry by a committee of IAS officers into the encroachment of temple lands at Devara Yamzal in Medchal district.
The high court refused to stay the inquiry by the IAS officers’ committee.
“What is problem, if the committee conducts probe to identify the encroached temple lands? Can’t the government take steps to identify the temple lands and government lands and protect them?” it asked.
The high court went to ask the petitioner whether the government should allow people to encroach upon the temple lands and government lands.
“It is the responsibility of the committee to do proper inquiry and submit the report to the government,” it said.
However, the high court agreed with the contention of the petitioner that the officials were not serving any notices to the occupants of the lands and were trespassing into their properties.
It asked the government committee to conduct the probe, but should first serve notices on the occupants.
“If any action is taken against the petitioners, the government should first issue notices to them. The petitioners, too, should submit copies of all the documents and information to the committee during the inquiry,” the court said.
The high court also ruled that the authorities could take action as per the law, if the petitioners did not cooperate with them in the inquiry.
It asked the government to submit its counter affidavit.
