Telangana High Court Grills HYDRAA Over Gachibowli Demolitions

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday once again grilled HYDRAA, this time over the demolitions it carried out at the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) Housing Society in Gachibowli in the early hours of Monday and questioned the timing of the action. The works were done by Sandhya Conventions and its sister organizations, owned by S. Sridhar Rao and included in Survey Nos. 122, 123, 124 and 127 of Gachibowli.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy wondered what HYDRAA should do in a housing colony that is entirely private land and does not fall to the full tank level of a lake or government land. The judge questioned the HYDRAA commissioner on whose instructions the demolitions were carried out. He stated that GHMC and HYDRAA have given a no-objection certificate to the building.

When it was reported to the court that the constructions were carried out by encroaching on the internal roads of the public housing, the judge asked who was responsible for marking the roads: the research department or HYDRAA. The judge asked senior advocate L. Ravi Chander whether HYDRAA could intervene in the internal roads issue.

The judge was dealing with contempt petitions filed by Sandhya Conventions Group against demolitions carried out by HYDRAA on Monday, despite a court order directing the agency to follow due procedure by giving advance notice if violations are detected.

Senior advocates Prasad and Mayur Reddy, representing HYDRAA, pointed out that it was a defenseless, immoral and brazen violation of court orders. The court questioned the other attorney general, Imran Khan, about what the violations HYDRAA pointed out were and what the urgency was in demolishing the buildings before sunrise.

Justice Reddy said, “Only last Friday, I had warned Commissioner Ranganath that I did not want to see him in court again for disrespect or violation of court orders. Is this overzealousness towards Sandhya Conventions? Is it difficult for him to wait for court orders?” he said.

In another petition, the judge pointed out that no counter-application has been made so far regarding the duties and powers of HYDRAA. The judge said it would be difficult if HYDRAA did everything without legal provision.

The court expressed displeasure with the submissions made by the additional advocate general, who said that he had not received any instructions or information from HYDRAA as to why the demolitions were carried out in the early hours of Monday. Lawyers for the petitioners said it was a ruse as the demolitions took place more than 30 hours ago.

While confessing, Additional AG Khan assured the court that everything will be recorded. “Even if something is wrong, it will be put on paper,” he said.

The judge then asked senior advocate L. Ravichander what objections the land owners would have if a survey was conducted. The judge asked all parties to stay away from the properties in question for two weeks. He directed the parties to file details of sales contracts, LRS and building permits and others.

The court directed the Additional AG to receive justifications regarding the demolitions from HYDRAA by Thursday. Until then, the status quo should be maintained by both sides, he said.