The AP High Court on Wednesday restored the encroached lands belonging to the Gurukul Trust in Hyderabad and also ordered that the amounts collected by the government to regularise the structures built on such land should be paid back to the trust.
Further, it said the encroachers who had not applied for regularisation have to vacate and hand over the land to the trust. The Ayyappa Society and some other colonies are situated on the trust lands.
A division bench allowed the writ petitions filed in public interest challenging the order of the government which resulted in the trust losing its lands. The Gurukul Trust was formed to help orphans, provide education for destitutes, cow protection and propagation of Sanathana Dharma.
The Trust had huge tracts of land and was exempted from the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) Act. However, with allegations that the trust lands were being sold away, the government withdrew the land ceiling exemption and claimed the excess land.
Those who had bought or occupied the lands - individuals as well as institutions - had then approached the government for regularisation. In the meantime, the court had upheld the right of the trust over the property.
Then a PIL was filed claiming that the government could not have withdrawn the exemption depriving the trust of the property and the money realised from the land resulting in the bench setting aside the order of the government.
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