Hyderabad High Court stays demolition of IAS officers’ association building
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday ordered the Telangana State government to maintain status quo on demolition of the IAS Officers Association building at Greenlands, adjacent to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s camp office in Begumpet.
However, by the time the court order was taken to the building site, a major portion of it had already been demolished.
The NGO, Forum for a Better Hyderabad, represented by its secretary O.M. Debara had moved a PIL as a lunch motion challenging the action of the authorities in deciding to demolish the heritage DGCR building that had been leased to the IAS Officers’ Association.
Counsel appearing for the petitioner informed the court that the building had been notified as a heritage building on April 22, 2006.
He said according to the GO Ms No. 542 issued in December 1995, the government could take up activities at listed heritage sites only after the approval of the Heritage Conservation Committee.
Counsel said that the Telangana government had issued a GO on July, 13, 2015, for dismantling the building without following the procedure under Go Ms No 542.
The division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt asked the petitioner’s counsel why no IAS officer had approached the court against the demolition.
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