Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday made it clear that the Greater Hyderabad Corporation shall not dewater Hussainsagar beyond the required limits as ordered by the Supreme Court on May 27 while directing the National Green Tribunal at Chennai to constitute an expert committee to assist the tribunal in disposing of the matter.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt was remanding a stay vacate petition moved by the Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL) an NGO from Hyderabad, to Chennai court.
A single judge of this court had granted stay on an order passed by the National Green Tribunal at Chennai restraining the GHMC from dewatering of the Lake.
The SOUL moved a stay vacate petition before the vacation bench of the High Court and when the bench refused to vacate the stay, it moved the Apex Court which remanded the stay vacate petition to the High Court while directing the Tribunal to constitute the expert committee.
When the case came up for hearing, counsel for the SOUL submitted that the tribunal had constituted a two-member team, but it has not inspected the lake till date and in the guise expansion of sluice, the GHMC has been dewatering the lake which causing the pollution of Musi River.
Telangana advocate-general K. Ramakrishna Reddy, said that the government had issued GO permitting the GHMC to take diversion of sewerage which is discharging into the lake through Kukatpally Nala and also expansion of sluice.
The bench said that the petitioner, which is an NGO, is likely to support a beautiful and pollution- free lake in the city. While making it clear that they cannot go beyond the order of the Apex Court, the bench directed the GHMC not to dewater the lake beyond its requirement for carrying of sluice works and diversion of sewerage.
‘Don’t impose lps on farmers’
The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the AP government and the Capital Region Development Authority not to interfere in the agricultural activities of the farmers who are not willing to give their land for the construction of capital city under land pooling scheme, unless until acquisition of their lands under due process of law.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt granted the interim order while disposing of the petitions by Kommineni Chalapathi Rao and other farmers from Guntur and Krishna districts.
The petitioners told the court that the authorities were adopting coercive methods to take away their land under the land pooling scheme to build the capital city.
They also questioned the validity of the land pooling scheme and also questioned the sanctity of the CRDA Act and urged the court to direct the authorities to exclude all villages within the vicinity of 2 km on either side of Krishna River from the capital construction activity.
