Kancha Gachibowli, a 400-acre parcel of land, is once again at the heart of a controversy in Telangana’s capital Hyderabad. 

This chapter of the controversy erupted when University of Hyderabad’s student union protested against the Congress-led state government’s decision to call for bids to auction the 400 acres for IT and infrastructure projects. Students accused the state government of taking over one of the few ‘lung spaces’ and ecologically important parts of the city.

The situation turned tense when on Sunday, March 30, several students were detained and taken to area police stations under the Cyberabad Commissionerate. Two of the UoH protestors were arrested by the Gachibowli police following an FIR and have been remanded to the Sangareddy jail. The state opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi has thrown its weight behind the student protests and criticised the ‘police action’. 

With the students and BRS already slamming the Congress, the University of Hyderabad issued a statement disavowing the Congress’s claims that Kancha Gachibowli’s 400 acres interspersed with UoH have been demarcated from the university.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and the Congress party have said that the 400 acres is very much government land and not one acre of university land has been touched. The government is of the view that the land is not notified as forest land and is in fact revenue land. The ‘Kancha’ in Kancha Gachibowli refers to ‘unproductive land’ which the state argues is revenue land as per the earliest records.

Kancha Gachibowli falls under the western part of Hyderabad, an area well-known owing to the presence of the city’s financial district, a concrete jungle with little green space left. Scientists and environmental experts said it was incumbent on the state to prove that Kancha Gachibowli was not ecologically rich to justify the land auction.

Currently, there are two public interest litigations against the state government in the Telangana High Court. The first PIL was filed by Vata Foundation, an NGO requesting the high court to declare alienation of land to the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation as ‘arbitrary and illegal’. The second PIL, filed by retired Indian Institute of Chemical Technology scientist Babu Rao Kalpala, sought courts to declare the state’s action of razing 400 acres of forest land issued by the revenue department as unlawful and a violation of the Forest Conservation Act 1980.

The major questions are about the demarcation between Kancha Gachibowli and UoH, specific plans the state have for the 400 acres and, more importantly, how the state plans to protect Kancha Gachibowli’s biodiversity. 

Legal tussle, from TDP till date

TNM looked at the court verdicts involving Kancha Gachibowli to a row dating back to 2003 under former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure. The land first got scrutiny after the state government, when Telugu Desam Party was in power, entered into an agreement with IMG Bharata, represented by its chairman Ahobila Rao (popularly known as Billy Rao).

According to the memorandum of understanding, the state government identified IMG as an entity “renowned in the field of events, entertainment and marketing” and agreed to sell 400 acres of land in Survey No 25 of Gachibowli to build, develop, own and operate sports academies. IMG Bharata was falsely portrayed before the public as a subsidiary of IMG Academy, a sports training destination in Florida, USA.

The state government also agreed to sell another 450 acres (850 acres in total) to IMG Bharata in Survey No 99/1 of Mamidapalli village to enable IMG to build, operate and for extension of facilities and activities relating to sports academies.

IMG Bharata was incorporated on August 5, 2003 and the MoU with the TDP was signed five days later on August 9, 2003. Following the change in government in 2004, the Congress party (headed by late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy) enacted the Andhra Pradesh Government Property (Preservation, Protection and Resumption) Act of 2007.

Under the 2007 Act, the MoU and sale deed with IMG Bharata was annulled. Billy Rao approached the court arguing that the act was unconstitutional. He argued that it violated Article 14 (right to equality).

The case did not come up for hearing and was wrapped up in litigation for around 18 years. After the bifurcation of the Telugu states in 2014, the Telangana government adapted the 2007 act by issuing a government order (GO Ms No 45) under the Telangana Adaptation of Laws Order of 2016.

The Telangana High Court noted three things: One, that IMG Bharata was not a subsidiary of a US company as claimed and was given a contract five days after it was incorporated. Two, that the 2007 act annulled the transaction to “protect and preserve public interest”. Third, it said that Billy Rao’s contention that a sale deed cannot be annulled by taking recourse to legislative powers cannot be accepted.

The writ petition was dismissed. Billy Rao moved a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, which was also dismissed.

Consequently, the 400 acres which is now in debate was handed over to the TGIIC.

What this Congress government said

The state government argued that the land parcel does not include the Buffalo Lake and the Peacock Lake (popular spots on the university campus). The state said that the TGIIC has prepared a layout duly preserving the rock formations, including the Mushroom Rock, within the layout and, as part of the master plan, is also preparing a detailed Environment Management Plan that will ensure sustainable development of the region.

The Telangana government noted that revenue authorities and the TGIIC ensured that revenue officials in the presence of UoH authorities carried out a survey to ensure that not one inch of university land was touched.

On March 31, the CMO also said that the current project (in the 400 acres) is in line with the government's priorities of providing world-class IT infrastructure, increased connectivity, and availability of adequate urban spaces.

The university’s response

The university rejected the state’s claims of a survey being conducted in July 2024. UoH registrar Devesh Nigam in a press statement said that “no survey was conducted in July 2024 by the revenue authorities in the University campus to demarcate the 400 acres of land resumed by the state government in 2006 from Ms IMG Academies Bharata Pvt Ltd”.

“The only action taken thus far has been a preliminary inspection of the land’s topography,” the registrar said.

The university also denied TGIIC’s claim that the university had agreed to the demarcation of campus land, saying the university was not informed of any such move. Nigam said the university had requested the state government to clearly demarcate the land belonging to the university, and had also asked the Revanth Reddy government to conserve the biodiversity in the disputed area.

The university, for the last several years, has found itself entangled in litigation pertaining to its land rights. UoH claims that in 1975 the united Andhra Pradesh government allotted 2,324 acres to it. But the Telangana High Court in 2022 noted that no official documentation exists to confirm this transfer.

How the opposition sees it

BRS working president KT Rama Rao condemned the police action against students. “Female students were dragged, their clothes torn, and two students were arrested and sent to jail,” he said. 

He also asked why the government was deploying “hundreds of bulldozers and excavators” to clear trees instead of complying with the students’ demand for an environmental impact assessment study.

BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is also the union minister of state for home affairs, termed the police action on protesters as “atrocious and inhumane”. He alleged that university land was being stealthily levelled using JCBs at night instead of securing the land for future generations.

But despite these criticisms, the state has remained firm on its stance. In the state assembly, Telangana CM Revanth said, “There are no deer, no tigers, but only ‘cunning jackals’ who want to hinder the state’s development.”

This report is republished from The News Minute as part of the NL-TNM alliance. It has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Support our work here. And click here to contribute to our upcoming investigation project on the impunity of India’s police.