HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday severely reprimanded the HMDA’s Lake Protection Committee (LPC) for its unresponsiveness in notifying buffer zones of the 3,532 waterbodies and lakes in its jurisdiction.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar cautioned the HMDA commissioner and the LPC officials to get ready face the music if they had failed to furnish the notification related to the buffer zones by August 19.
The court cautioned the authorities that a contempt case would be initiated if its orders were not complied with by the next week. The court said it would not spare inefficient officers and those who do not want to work.
Chief Justice Aradhe told the government pleaders and counsels appearing for the officials to not protect officials who did not heed the court orders.
“Government counsels must behave like law officers... you should not beg before the courts to guard officers who are not interested in working for a public cause. Let them face the consequences,” Chief Justice Aradhe said.
The objective for the constitution of the LPC was to safeguard the lakes and waterbodies by identifying them and fixing their full tank levels (FTLs) and buffer zones. From 2010, when it was formed, the LPC has not completed the task.
The Chief Justice Aradhe bench while hearing a PIL on July 27 in relation to construction in the Ramammakunta lake had directed the LPC to submit a compliance report by notifying buffer zones of the waterbodies by August 11.
On Friday, LCP counsel said that the preliminary notification had been issued to notify the buffer zones of the lakes and it would take time to identify the area. He also submitted that buffer zones for 234 lakes had been identified.
The court questioned counsel under which provision the preliminary notification was issued. There is no such provision, counsel failed to give a reply. The bench took the LPC authorities to task for making negligent submissions, and asked what they had had been doing since 2010.
“By issuing the preliminary notification... do you want people to come to meet and talk personally with you on fixing the FTLs and buffer zones? We know what will happen with the issue of preliminary notification,” the court said.
Justice Vinod Kumar said he was amazed that the LPC authorities had not consulted with the revenue and irrigation authorities get data regarding the full tank levels of the lakes. The judge suggested that the authorities read the book ‘Lakes of the City,’ which he said gave details of the lakes in the city and its surrounding areas. The judge asked how the HMDA had geo-tagged the lakes without having all relevant data.
