Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Friday stayed the ongoing demolition of old Telangana secretariat buildings. While hearing a PIL filed by Professor PL Vishweshwara Rao, the court directed the authorities to stop the demolition work forthwith till Monday.
A two judge panel comprising the Chief Justice of the state Justice RS Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijayasen Reddy asked the state government to submit a detailed report on the issue on Monday.
The division bench passed these orders while dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Vice President of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Convenor of the Telangana Democratic Forum Professor P L Vishweshwar Rao and Dr. Cheruku Sudhkar against the demolition of the secretariat.
The petitioner’s counsel, while arguing the case, said the demolition decision was in violation of Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules 2016, Provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, Environment Protection Act 1986 and against the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005. He also said that the state government had not followed any procedures prescribed by law and no permission was obtained from the local authorities in accordance with the Solid
Waste Management Rules.
He also said that there was a possibility of the spread to the respiratory problems due to the demolition of the buildings among the residents of the neighbouring areas. Rebutting the arguments of the petitioners, the AG opposed the grant of stay on the demolition drive by stating that that all necessary permissions were taken before taking up the drive. In their petition, the two petitioners had said that that the demolition of the 10 blocks of the
Secretariat building comprising 10 lakh sq.feet area for the construction of a new complex.