HC: Seal illegal godowns in Mahbubnagar

Hyderabad: Making it clear that no unauthorisedly constructed godowns shall be allowed to continue, the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Mahbubnagar district collector to ensure sealing of all illegal godowns in Gadwal area.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao was dealing with a PIL by G. Krishna Reddy which said that despite a court order to suspend all business operations including operation of godowns in Puddur village in Gadwal mandal, the authorities have allowed their operations by breaking the seal.

Earlier, the bench had summoned the district collector and Gadwal tahsildar to appear before it to explain why the operations of the godowns were allowed. The two appeared before the court Tuesday, following the direction of the bench.

When the bench sought to know the officer responsible for breaking the seal, counsel for revenue department, C.V. Bhaskar Reddy, told the court that the earlier officer who worked in the mandal broke the seal. The bench cautioned the officials that it will initiate a contempt case against the officer.

The bench directed them to immediately reseal the godowns. When G. Vidyasagar, senior counsel on behalf of the godown owners stated that all the godowns were located on private lands, the bench directed him to place all the details before the court by July 12.