Hyderabad: Finding fault with the GHMC for failing to preventing mushrooming of encroachments on pavements, the Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed the civic body commissioner B Janardhan Reddy to depute a special officer to monitor the clearing of pavements in Siddiamber Bazaar.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranga-nathan and Justice G. Shyam Prasad said if the GHMC had the will, it would not be difficult to free pavements from encroachments. Unless stringent action begins at some point, pavements will not be free for pedestrians.
The bench was dealing with a PIL by Mr Laks-hmi Nivas Agarwal who said the failure of the civic body had resulted in shopkeepers constructing staircases and ramps on pavements.
The bench had on December 15 directed Mr Reddy to appear before it personally to explain the stand of the civic body in taking action against the encroachers at Siddiamber Bazaar. Accordingly the civic chief appeared before the bench on Friday.
Advocate-General D. Prakash Reddy said the GHMC had removed the encroachments on December 7, and had directed local officials to keep a strict vigil on shopkeepers to stop them from occupying pavements. The commissioner had filed an affidavit explaining the details.
Mr Agarwal told the court that only three pan shops were removed and officials were adopting a selective approach in removing the encroachments.
Stating that the shopkeepers will only be set right if the court again orders sealing of their shops, the bench directed Mr Reddy to submit the list of shopkeepers who have repeatedly occupied the pavements along with photographs of encroachments.
TS to appeal bhavan stay
The state government on Friday moved an appeal before the Hyder-abad High Court challenging an order of single judge staying the construction of Chris-tian Bhavan at Yapral in the city and directing three acres allotted for the Bhavan to assigned land holders.
Advocate-General D. Prakash Reddy, while mentioning before a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G. Shyam Prasad to take up the issue as a urgent matter, contended that the single judge had granted the order without hearing the government.
The AG said that the government had issued notice to assigned land holders before resuming the land, as there was no response from them.
The bench asked why the government wanted to hear the case as an urgent matter and whet-her the petitioners had moved a contempt case against the government.
When the AG replied in negative, the bench jocularly said the urgen-cy seems to be view of the ensuing Christmas. The bench said that it will hear the case if it reaches on Friday, otherwise it will hear the case on Wednesday.
On December 19, a single judge directed the authorities not to take up the construction of the Bhavan in the proposed land as Ms M. Gangavathi and two other petitioners claimed that the land was assigned to them in 1962.
Cops get 3 weeks to file their reply
The Hyderabad HC on Friday granted three weeks to the state government and Kothagu-dem district police to file their counter affidavit on a PIL seeking to register murder ca-ses against police personnel responsible for killing of eight Naxal-ites near Nelamadugu on December 14.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G. Shyam Prasad was dealing with a PIL by Civil Liberties Committee president G. Laxman.
The police submitted the video footage and a report of the post-mortem of the naxalites to the bench in a sealed cover.
