Telangana HC Extends Stay On Secretariat Demolition

HYDERABAD: Telangana High Court has extended the stay over the demolition of secretariat buildings till July 15. Earlier, the direction was till July 13.

The government had filed a counter-affidavit in a PIL by Prof. PL Vishweshwar Rao. The Telangana government in its counter-affidavit said that it has followed all statutory rules required for demolition.

However, the court has directed the advocate general to submit a copy of the cabinet’s decision for demolishing the old secretariat buildings in a sealed cover. The AG informed the court copy will be furnished by evening.

The petitioner's counsel Chikkudu Prabhakar said that they will file a reply counter against the counter affidavit filed by the government. The court posted the matter to Wednesday for further hearing.

The court passed this order after a PIL was filed by Prof PL Vishweshwar Rao, vice-president of Telangana Jana Samithi and Cheruku Sudhakar of the Telangana Inti Party. They alleged that the ongoing demolition of old Secretariat buildings is taking place in violation of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016, and Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

There are A B C D E F G H I J K blocks as part of the old secretariat. Of them, C, H and G were totally demolished.

The demolition drive to raze the 132-year-old secretariat was started on Tuesday, July 7 under the aegis of the roads and buildings department.

The demolition began after the High Court has recently cleared the proposal of building a new secretariat complex. Last week, the high court had dismissed all the petitions filed by the activists against demolition.