Hyderabad: Expressing concern at residential colonies coming up on lakes and ponds in the city, the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday cautioned citizens to beware as nature could strike back through floods and turn the colonies into lakes again.
A division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice T. Amarnath Goud was dealing with batch of petitions challenging inaction of authorities in preventing unauthorised constructions within 10 km vicinity of the Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar. The petitions also challenged the validity of GO Ms No 111 which prohibited such construction activity.
The bench said it would examine the number of lakes and ponds that existed in twin cities today against how many there were in earlier times.
Reminding of the floods in Chennai, the bench said that about 90 per cent of lakes and ponds in Chennai were also encroached on and transformed into colonies.
Advocates appearing for the petitioners told the court that managements of several private engineering colleges had built massive structures in the prohibited area without permission from HMDA and GHMC.
Counsel for HMDA, Y. Rama Rao, said there was no question of withdrawing the GO, but the government had set up a panel to conduct a scientific survey for its implementation.
Minoritiesagainst TTD rule Christian and Muslim employees working with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Board have moved the Hyderabad High Court challenging Rule 9(4) of TTD Employees Service Rules, which prohibits employement to non-Hindus in temples run by the TTD and those run with the financial aid of the TTD.
Thirty-six employees from both the communities moved the plea contending that the TTD was an autonomous body and was not functioning with the aid of the state government and that they were not directly working in temples.
They told the court that they were recruited from 1998 to 2005 in various institutions run by the TTD including hospitals and other offices.
They said that succumbing to pressure from Hindu religious organisations, the TTD had promulgated the rule and issued showcause notices to them on January 11 directing them to submit their explanation within three weeks.
