SC ex-judge takes swipe at farmhouse culture, urges support for tenant ryots

Hyderabad: Retired Supreme Court judge, Justice B Sudershan Reddy, has sounded an alarm over the rise of “farmhouse culture” in Telangana’s suburban belts, warning that agricultural land is being steadily converted into real estate projects instead of serving its intended purpose of cultivation. He urged the govt to show greater empathy towards farmers and act decisively to protect tenant cultivators.

Speaking at the release of the tenant farmers’ survey report organised by Rythu Swarajya Vedika on Tuesday, Justice Reddy said: “It is disheartening to see how farmhouses have taken over land parcels that should be devoted to agriculture.” He noted that many of these establishments are neither true homes nor functioning farms, but symbols of land misuse.

Highlighting troubling trends in Rangareddy and surrounding regions, he stressed that the govt must step in to safeguard farming communities. He called on chief minister A Revanth Reddy along with Rythu Commission chairperson M Kodanda Reddy and agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao to convene a meeting focused on tenant farmers’ issues.

Justice Reddy also pressed for structural reforms in land records. He advocated reinstating a column in revenue records to indicate whether a parcel is held by a landowner, a cultivator, or a landowner-cum-cultivator. “This update would help clarify many issues surrounding tenant farmers and enable the govt to better understand land ownership dynamics,” he said.