Telangana High Court on July 10 passed an order staying the ongoing demolition of the Secreteriat buildings till July 13, after hearing a PIL plea.
The petition seeking a direction to government to keep in abeyance the demolition of the Secreteriat was filed by professor P.L. Vishweshwar Rao and Cherukuri Sudhakar. The petitioners' counsel Chikkudu Prabhakar contended that the demolition, which started four days ago, was illegal as the government had not obtained required permissions.
Citing Rule 4 (3) of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, Mr. Prabhakar said the government should prepare and present a plan for demolition of a building. Permission from the local authority (in this case GHMC) should be procured. The lawyer said the government had not presented any of them before the court.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy sought to peruse the permission-related papers from the government. Advocate General B.S. Prasad informed the Bench that he would secure instructions on the clarifications sought by the court.
The Bench said the ongoing demolition was prima facie in violation of the rules and since the government could not present details of the obtained permissions and issued directions, it must stop the demolition till July 13.
