Raju traded in land meant for poor

28 Jan 2009,


HYDERABAD: Assigned land in Andhra Pradesh is defined as land given to the landless poor by the government as part of its land reforms exercise. But Satyam Computers’ former chairman Ramalinga Raju - in a patently illegal action - bought more than hundred acres of assigned land in Bahadurpally village in Greater Hyderabad, close to where the company’s global headquarters is located.

The land was bought in the name of Satyam Institute of E-Business which was officially represented by Ramalinga Raju. What is more, after a while, Ramalinga Raju also sold most of this illegal land in his possession to Dr Reddy’s Biosciences Ltd.

These facts have come to light in the last three weeks after the Satyam scam broke out, and revenue authorities are now investigating whether the global headquarters of the company is itself located on assigned land.

The government wanting to be seen as taking strong action has slapped notices on both Ramalinga Raju and Dr Reddy’s Biosciences Limited under rule 3 of AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of transfers) Act, 1977.

As per the law, the government can resume all the assigned land under Satyam’s possession and that which the organisation has sold. The notices were issued by the tehsildar on January 7, the day Ramalinga Raju confessed to his fraud.

Revenue officials told TOI on Tuesday that Ramalinga Raju had purchased 134 acres of assigned land in Bahadurpally village in 2000 but sold it to Dr Reddy’s Biosciences Ltd in 2004. According to revenue authorities, as per ‘pahani’ (land records) of 1951-52, the chunk of land (survey number 227/2/13 to 227/2/23) measuring 153.35 acres was recorded as ‘poramboke’ or sarkari land. In the ‘pattedar column’ the names of Murali Lal and four others were shown as cultivating the land. It was to them or their successors that the land was “assigned” (redistributed).

Out of this 153.35 acres in the survey, Satyam bought 134 acres in the year 2000 from the heirs of Murari Lal.

The names of the person who sold this non- transferable land could not be ascertained. What is more interesting, this illegal sale was registered in the name of Satyam E-Business Institute. “That’s not surprising, this is a widely prevalent practice in Andhra Pradesh. The registration department will have no qualms in registering the sale of even Charminar,” an analyst said. But the sale of this land to Dr Reddy’s Biosciences was not registered.

Satyam Technology Centre, the global headquarters of Satyam in Bahadurpally village extends over an area of 120 acres in survey no. 62/1. “We are checking the pahanis (land records) to verify whether it also stands on assigned land,” a revenue department official said.