Why Hyderabad Univ students are clashing with police over Kancha Gachibowli land

The petitions have been filed by the students of the University of Hyderabad, which claims to own the land under dispute and an NGO, Vata Foundation. The latter wants the area to be earmarked as a 'deemed forest'.

Both want the court to grant a stay on the earthmovers being used in large-scale excavations and uprooting of trees at Kancha Gachibowli.

Meanwhile, the Hyderabad university students have launched an indefinite strike at the campus and are boycotting classes to protest against the Telangana government’s decision to auction 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli via the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC), to build an IT park.

On Wednesday, as the protesting students and faculty tried to cross the barricades set up to prevent them from entering the forest area near their university, the police resorted to lathi-charge.

Amid the protests which seems to be gaining round, the TGIIC, which started clearing the land using earthmovers on March 30, continued with their work.

Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy categorically stated that the state government owns the land citing a Supreme Court judgement on the ownership. He slammed critics who said there are protected wild animals in the area and told the state Assembly that there were no tigers or deer in the land but “some cunning foxes were trying to obstruct development.”

Also read: Tension at Hyderabad University as students protest clearing of nearby forest land

So, what is the rumpus about?

Firstly, what do University of Hyderabad students want?

The students, who have gathered at the main gate of the institution raising slogans against the Congress government and the police, want TGIIC to immediately stop clearing the land for development.

They also demanded that the police should be removed from the campus. Police officials are not letting students to step outside the campus gate to protest against the “ongoing deforestation” by TGIIC, Akash Kumar, vice-president of UoH students’ union told the media.

The students wanted the police and more than 50 earthmoving machines “razing down the forests” on the land to be removed from the university.

The students said that Kancha Gachibowli, which is located near the central Hyderabad university, is home to 734 plant species, 220 bird species, and vulnerable wildlife such as the Indian Star Tortoise.

In fact, they have launched a campaign on social media with the hashtag “oxygen not auction”, saying that the forested land was home to protected wildlife species under Schedule I of the Wildlife Act and had a self-sustaining ecosystem.

The students believed that the land “in principle” belongs to the university and must not be used for any proposed development project in Hyderabad.

They argued that the 400 acres of land is critical to the university’s plans to achieve a yearly intake of 25,000 students. It currently admits 5,000 students.

What’s the stand of environmentalists

Environmentalists, who have even approached the Telangana high court, want the area to be declared as a national park. They cited a 1996 Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that any land with forest cover qualified as “forest land”, even if it was not notified, and the term forest was to be understood in the dictionary sense of the word.

It based its argument on a Supreme Court judgement in the Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India case. Godavarman was an environmental conservationist. The high court is yet to hear the matter and has listed the case for April 7.

The petitioners said the HCU campus had all the features of biodiversity hotspots and was ecologically sensitive as recognised by the Supreme Court to confer the deemed forest status.

Moreover, they quote a joint study of the university and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) India, which has found the area to be home to over 455 species of flora and fauna. They urged the court to declare the site a national park under the Wildlife Protection Act.

It is home to rare plants, birds, and animal species, they said.

As per an Ecological Heritage report, the Kancha Gachibowli is home to 233 bird species.

The report has said it is home to grassland birds like the Indian Hoopoes, Oriental Skylarks butterflies like the Grass Yellows and Darts and the Indian Roller (Telangana’s State Bird) within Hyderabad. Clearing the Kancha Gachibowli will be a major jolt to people living in Gachibowli and surrounding areas and are already struggling to breathe.

What Telangana government has to say?

Meanwhile, the state government in a statement issued on March 31 firmly stated that it is the sole owner of the 400 acres of land under dispute in Kancha Gachibowli village.

The state government claimed that it had conducted a survey of the land on July 19, 2024 in the presence of university officials for boundary demarcation.

“The University of Hyderabad does not own even an inch of land in this survey," the government has said. The state government defends the development of the area saying the proposed project is envisaged in line with the government’s priorities for development of world class IT infrastructure, increased connectivity.

Reddy also said that it will create 5 lakh jobs.

Morever, the Telangana government, has pointed out that the land was never marked as “forest land” in revenue department records and is a part of the parcel that was set aside by the undivided Andhra Pradesh government for setting up the university in 1974.

Who owns the land?

In 2004, then Andhra Pradesh government allotted 400 acres of land to IMG Academies Bharat Private Limited on January 13, 2004, to develop sports facilities. The allotment was cancelled by a government order on November 21, 2006, as the company did not pursue with the project. The Supreme Court, hearing a plea on the land’s ownership in May 2024, had ruled in favour of the Telangana government.

The government then took possession of land and ordered a survey by the deputy collector and tehsildar of Serilingampally. On the deputy collector’s confirmation that the government was the rightful owner of the land, it was decided that they should use the land for development works.

After which, the government issued orders transferring the rights of 400 acres of its land to TGIIC. The TGIIC also wrote to the registrar of the university seeking cooperation to identify common boundaries. A team also met the registrar to explain the project proposals.

“With the consent of the registrar, a joint survey by government and university officials was conducted. The boundaries were fixed on the same day. Buffalo lake and peacock lakes are not within the limits of 400 acres as claimed in the campaign by students,” said a government statement.

University refutes government claims

However, the university administration has denied that a survey was conducted in July last year by revenue authorities to demarcate the 400 acres of land retaken by the government from private company IMG Academies Bharata.

In a statement released by the University, they said the government has only inspected the land and also rubbished TGIIC's claim that it had agreed to the demarcation of land. In fact, no demarcation of land had been done and the university was not informed about it, added the statement.

The university further added that it will forward the representation of stakeholders to the government to reconsider the points raised and request it to conserve the environment and biodiversity in the area.

Now, the fate of this 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli land rests with the court and on the Revanth Reddy government, as the issue seems to be only hotting up.