In a significant verdict, the AP High Court on Wednesday gave the nod to regularise the Gurukul Trust lands in favour of the private individuals in possession of the lands. A Division Bench, comprising acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose and Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar, dealing with a batch of writ petitions, directed that all the proceeds collected by the government in the name of regularisation were to be given to the Trust and the initial charitable activities for which it was formed were to resume.
The Bench ruled that a committee had to be constituted with the Endowments commissioner and other senior officers to ensure that the money was utilised for the purpose of providing alternative land to the Trust so it could carry on its charitable activities. A practicing advocate P. Chandrasen Reddy had filed a PIL challenging the government’s move to regularise the lands in 2009.
According to him, the land belonged to a man named Badrinath, who handed it over to the Trust in 1951 through a gift deed. The Trust holds about 627 acres in Izzatnagar and Khana-met villages of Serilin-gampally mandal. Mr Reddy told the court one Kishanlal executed the GPA to the Ayyappa Cooperative Housing Society for 70 acres and the Society, in turn, sold the land to several individuals. The HC on June 24, 2009, directed the state government to maintain status quo in regularising layouts and buildings on the Gurukul Ghatkesar Trust land. The applications for regularisation were rejected as the ownership was under a cloud.
MLC nominations: orders reserved
The AP High Court on Wednesday reserved its orders on a plea challenging the state government's action in making nominations to AP Legislative Council. After hearing argume-nts by one Venkateswara Rao of the city, challenging the nominations of A. Chakrapani, A. Laks-hmi, Reddappa Reddy, Farook Hussain, and Rajeshwar Rao as MLCs, a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose and Justice Vilas V. Afzulp-urkar said the order will be pronounced later.
Sompeta firing report sought
The High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to file the magisterial inquiry report on police firing at Sompeta of Srikakulam by Friday. The court issued the direction while dealing with a plea by one V.V. Krishana Rao of Samata Party and two others, seeking a CBI probe into the police firing on agitators opposing the establishment of a power plant in the area. The government ordered a magisterial inquiry by joint collector of the district.
HC: SAAP can’t check papers
A Division Bench comprising Justice V. Eswar-aiah and Justice Ravi Shankar on Wednesday ruled that the Sports Authority of India alone could verify certificates submitted by students seeking admission into MBBS courses through reservation under the sports quota, showing participation in sports events. The Bench was dealing with a writ petition filed by one Pratyusha stating the NTR University of Health Sciences had named the SAAP as the verifying authority.