HC dismisses pleas claiming land of Mahavir Park

Hyderabad: The Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park (MHVNP) heaved a sigh of relief after a prolonged legal battle coming to an end on Saturday with State High Court dismissing 29 writ petitions.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Siddhanand Kukrety said that the park had been declared as a national park marking the occasion of the 2,500 of the Nirvana of Lord Mahavir in the year 1975. The park, which was then located in the Ranga Reddy, has been declared as a national park after due process of calling objections from the public by the District Collector.

District Forest Officer Bheema Naik said that no objections were received and the park was declared as the national park. But, it was in 1994, about 1,500 people had approached the High Court and filed 29 writ petitions claiming that land admeasuring 2,500 acres belongs to them under ancestral Jagir. However, the Forest Rage Officer (FRO), Hayatnagar Ravinder Reddy had made herculean efforts in compiling all the technical details to counter the claims of the land grabbers during the prolonged legal battle and was successful in his task.

It was against this backdrop that the High Court on Saturday had found the claims of petitioners baseless and dismissed their pleas declaring that the aforesaid land belongs to the park. The national park is located to the south east of Hyderabad on Vijaywada national highway at a distance of 15 km from the city. It is an oasis of vegetation among the concrete buildings.

A deer park was set up in order to preserve this precious heritage and rehabilitate it. The fauna of the park includes spotted deer, black buck, four-horned antelope, peafowls, wild boar, porcupine, monitor lizard besides different species of snakes and birds.