With the lanco Hills Company issuing full-page advertisements in Hyderabad newspapers to sell its residential and commercial spaces at the lanco Hills project, Telangana State Waqf Board and the State minorities department has swung into action to prevent any such transaction.

After the Hyderabad High Court had ruled that the massive project had come up on Waqf property at Manikonda near Hyderabad, the company had challenged it in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court had refused to vacate the stay order on the sale of the property and the matter continues to be pending in the court.

After lying low from couple of years, the company has now again resumed its activity and issued the advertisement seeking the buyers for its ready property and advance booking for its future project on the same disputed land. While the Supreme Court had given the ruling that any registration of the disputed property will be subjected to final verdict of the court, the company did not mention it in its blitzkrieg of advertisements.

The then YS Rajasekhar Reddy Government had granted the nod to the lanco Hills project promoted by a Congress MP lagdapati Rajagopal creating a major controversy. Even as skyscrapers came up on the land, the State Waqf Board took the matter to the High Court. In a bold move the Minorities Welfare Department, going against the stand of the Revenue Department headed by the Chief Minister certified that the land was infact a Wafq property paving the way for a historic judgement against the project making the Waqf Board a partner in the project.

As the advertisements came as a surprise, the Secretary, Minorities Welfare Omar Jaleel issued a memo to the State Waqf Board executive officer to file a contempt of court case in the Supreme Court as the company has violated the court orders.

“The property comes under the Hussain Sahah Wali Dargah and the Board has documents to prove its claim. The Board has hired the service of prominent lawyers to fight the case in the SC. The claim of the company that it had purchased the land from the State Government is baseless”, said Omar Jaleel.

The official said that the Board will pursue the case vigorously and if need be hire more senior lawyers. As Omar Jaleel is also the highest authority of the Waqf Board his stand will put the seal on the decision to pose a legal challenge to the company. Official sources said that an appeal will be filed before the Supreme Court on Monday.

lanco Hills with several skyscrapers, luxury residential properties, individual villas and the commercial property is a `10,000 crore project.