Supreme Court Rejects Claims Over 600 Acres of Reserved Forest Land in Khammam!

The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the claims made by Vadiyala Prabhakar Rao and eight others over 600 acres of land situated in Survey No. 81 of Kalvalanagaram village in Pinapaka mandal of Khammam district. The disputed land forms part of 787 acres notified as protected forest land. A bench comprising Justices Pankaj Mithal and S. V. N. Bhatti upheld the 2003 orders issued by the Khammam Joint Collector rejecting the petitioners’ claims. The court clarified that revenue records, pahani entries, and jamabandis are maintained only for fiscal purposes and cannot be treated as title documents establishing ownership rights over land.

The apex court observed that the petitioners failed to produce any valid ownership documents proving that the land belonged either to them or their ancestors. It further stated that payment of land tax, municipal dues, or securing bank loans based on revenue entries does not confer ownership rights. The bench also noted that suspicious or isolated entries in revenue records cannot create legal ownership, especially when long-standing records consistently classify the land as forest area. The Supreme Court appreciated the High Court division bench for correcting the earlier single-judge ruling that had favored the petitioners. Concluding that no further legal dispute survives in the matter, the court dismissed all appeals challenging the division bench verdict.