No regularisation of illegal buildings, orders Hyderabad High Court

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad HC made it clear on Thursday that it would not allow the Building Regularisation Scheme which would destroy the environment in urban areas and also infringe on citizens right to live.

A division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao was dealing with a petition by the Forum for Good Governance, represented by Mr M. Padmanabha Reddy, challenging GO Ms No: 146 issued on October 31, 2015 amending Section 455 AA of the GHMC 1955, and GO Ms No: 152 on November 2, 2015, to regularise illegal buildings in GHMC limits.

The Bench expressed displeasure at governments regularising illegal buildings. It said that there was a possibility of builders constructing buildings without permission under the scheme. Mr Sivaraju Srinivas, counsel for the petitioner, citing various HC and SC judgements contended that regularisation of illegal buildings would violate the right to live guaranteed by the Constitution. He cited an instance in which the Bombay HC ordered the demolition of a 17-storied building.

Considering the contention of the counsel, the Bench said that such schemes could not be permitted. At this juncture Mr K. Ramakrishna Reddy, advocate general of Telangana, informed the Bench that the Assembly had passed an Amendment Bill to introduce the scheme. He urged the Bench to adjourn the case after the summer vacation so the petitioner could challenge the amendment.

Mr Srinivas intervened and brought to the notice of the court that while newspapers had reported about passing of the Bill by the Assembly, the same was not published by the GHMC or by the government on their websites. He said that the government had already shutdown the website meant for placing government orders and Bills.

The Bench told the AG that it was not a good thing and asked him to provide a copy of the Amendment Bill to the petitioner. Defending the government’s stand, the AG read the conditions which were incorporated in the scheme, one of which said that no building constructed without permission should be regularised. After seeing the condition, the Bench sought the stand of the petitioner.

Mr Srinivas replied that the government was, however, prepared to regularise buildings constructed in unauthorised layouts. The Bench then said that it would not allow a single unauthorised structure to be regularised. It asked the petitioner’s counsel to make suggestions for a scheme which would protect the environment of the city.

Adjourning the case for three weeks, the Bench asked AG to place details about buildings it intended to regularise. Inform details of farmers: HC. The HC asked petitioners to submit details of farmers who had committed suicide after failing to repay loans after crop failures, to the governments of TS and AP.

A division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao was dealing with petitions filed by Vyavasaya Jana Chaitanya Samithi, Pakala Srihari Rao, Professor Kodandram and others on Thursday challenging the inaction of the governments in curbing farmers’ suicides.

The Bench asked Mr TS counsel Sharath Kumar to inform the court whether the families of farmers who had committed suicide after crop failure were receiving the benefits announced to support them.

When the Bench saw that several families of deceased farmers had been brought to the court, it cautioned the advocates appearing for the petitioners not to repeat such acts.

When one of the counsels for the petitioner complained that both governments had failed to take steps to set up farmers’ commissions, the Bench said it was easy for anyone to approach the court and blame the governments.

The Bench said, “We are trying our best to help the farmers and similarly the governments are also doing their best.” Mr Sharath said that the petitioners have submitted a list of farmers who had committed suicide.

In some cases the families had admitted that the suicides were not due to crop failure. He urged the court to grant time to place details of the help given by governments. The Bench adjourned the case for two weeks.