The Telangana High Court has sentenced three registration department officials and the owner of a private infrastructure firm to six months’ simple imprisonment for wilfully disobeying an interim order concerning a 10-acre land parcel in Bachupally, Hyderabad. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on each of the four respondents, while suspending the prison sentence for four weeks to allow them to appeal.
A bench of Justice K Lakshman and Justice N Tukaramji passed the order while disposing of a contempt case against Ch Damodar Rao of ADR Estates Private Limited and registration officials connected with the Quthbullapur registration jurisdiction. Those sentenced include sub-registrar P Sreenu and joint sub-registrars V Ashok and P Madhu Babu.
The contempt petition was filed by Chalasani Kalyani Leela. According to the petition, the respondents violated the High Court’s interim order of February 2, 2023, which stayed a single judge’s direction relating to the disputed Bachupally land. The petitioner alleged that ADR Estates continued presenting documents concerning the property for registration even after the stay order, while the registration officials accepted those documents.
The order at issue prevented registrations involving the land parcel, according to the report. The petitioner argued that accepting and processing documents despite knowledge of the order amounted to deliberate defiance of the court’s directions.
The respondents denied the contempt allegations. ADR Estates argued that there was no injunction preventing alienation of the land and that the stay was limited to deletion or endorsement in the Encumbrance Certificate. The registration officials contended that the order did not clearly restrain registration and that they were required to process documents presented before them.
The High Court rejected those arguments. It held that the respondents were aware of the interim order but continued with registrations, making their conduct wilful and deliberate. The finding places the court’s directions at the centre of the dispute rather than treating the matter as a routine disagreement over registration procedure.
Land registration is a critical point in Hyderabad’s expanding real estate system because registration records affect the ability of parties to transact, create claims and rely on title-related documentation. In this case, however, the court’s order concerned a specific disputed parcel and the conduct of the parties and officials named in the contempt proceedings. The ruling does not determine ownership of the 10 acres in the material supplied for this report.
The prison sentence and fines were ordered against both the private firm owner and the three officials. The court suspended the sentence for four weeks, creating a window for the respondents to challenge the punishment. The next procedural development will therefore depend on whether an appeal is filed during that period.
