Telangana high court surprised with state’s attitude on Regulation 13

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday was surprised with government’s attitude in repealing Regulation 13, though the DHMA had stated that it was inactive.

The division bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther while dealing with PILs challenging the proposed demolition of Errum Manzil, said it was amazing that the government was neither following the court directions nor its own executive machinery proposals in constituting the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC).

The court recalled that Additional Advocate General J. Ramachandra Rao had said the government had repealed Regulation 13 in 2015 based on the proposal of the HMDA and asked him to go through the proposal letter carefully.

The court said the HMDA commissioner had asked for repeal of zoning regulations which were inoperative and had asked the state to constitute the HCC afresh, as was not constituted since 2013.

Justice Chauhan asked how the government could repealed the regulation whereas the proposal by the HMDA had not spoken about Regulation 13.

Justice Chauhan said: “It is amazing that the state has not followed the single judge order and division bench order issued for constitution of the Heritage Conservation Committee. You have not even considered the proposal sent by your own IAS officer to a senior IAS officer.” Mr Rahul Reddy, counsel for the one of petitioners, said that along with Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, Section 18 of the AP General Clauses Act also states that the decisions under the repealed rule or regulations will continue.

The bench appreciated Mr Rahul Rahul for bringing Section 18 before the court.