Hyderabad: In a big relief to the Udasin Mutt of Husaini Alam here, the Supreme Court had ordered that the land admeasuring around acres 540.30 guntas at Y Junction in Kukatpally belongs to the Mutt.
The apex court rejected the claim of Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd (formerly Indian Detonators Ltd) over the land and dismissed its petition.
As per the Muntakab, the land was donated to the Udasin Mutt started by the elder son of Guru Nanak, by a priest Kamalapathi Baba in 1904.
The land was given on lease to M/s Indian Detonators Ltdd in 1961, which has changed its name later as IDL Chemicals Ltd and then as IDL Industries Ltd in 1995. The name was again changed as Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd in 2002.
The lease was given on four spells in 1964, 1968, 1969 and 1979 for a period of 99 years. However, the lessee company violated the terms of the lease agreement and took up real estate activities in the land along with 300 acres of its own land.
Moreover, it obtained a commercial loan from SBI by mortgaging the leasehold rights, thus creating encumbrance over the leased property. Apart from this, due to a lack of care on the part of the lessees, an extent of 20 acres of land has been converted into a graveyard.
The conversion was a serious breach of conditions of the lease and hence the Mutt has cancelled the lease to the company.
The then Mahant, Arundas Udasin, made a complaint on December 24, 2007 to the assistant commissioner of endowments, AP, alleging a breach of conditions of lease and seeking eviction of the company under provisions of section 83 of Act 33/2007.
As the legal tussle arose, the matter went to forums like the AP Endowments Tribunal, Hyderabad and the High Court. All the forums declared the land belonged to the Udasin Mutt.
Challenging this, the company approached the Supreme Court in 2013. The apex court ordered status quo in 2013. After several rounds of hearing, the apex court affirmed that the land belongs to the Udasin Mutt.
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