Telangana HC order for action against pollution-causing units
The bench directed the city civil court of Hyderabad to not pass any injunction orders or give relief to the owners of these units
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday gave an ultimatum to the GHMC to immediately initiate action for closure of the pollution-causing commercial units in the residential areas of Shastripuram and Tata Nagar here.
Censuring the civic body over its inaction in getting the pollution-causing units move out, as also over the lapse of time even after the high court passed orders to do so seven months ago, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy has fixed a time-limit for closure the units.
At the same time, the bench directed the city civil court of Hyderabad to not pass any injunction orders or give relief to the owners of these units over the closures notices issued by the GHMC. Stay orders issued by a single judge bench of the high court, which restrained GHMC from taking coercive steps, will be vacated, the division bench said.
Electricity connections to such units should be stopped by the power distribution company of Shastripuram area immediately after it received a communication from the GHMC, in which it would specify which all units needed to be closed, the court said.
Fixing a time schedule for closure of these units, the division bench directed the GHMC to immediately identify such units in Shastripuram and Tata Nagar. After identifying such units, notices must be served on these units, asking them to satisfy the GHMC authorities within seven days as to how their units do not come under the category of ‘pollution-causing units’. Once the exercise is completed, the GHMC should give its final closure orders to all the pollution-causing units, asking them to vacate the place within 14 days.
The GHMC has been told to file the status report before the high court, in compliance with the orders issued by court. No court should entertain any application filed against the GHMC's notices.
The bench was dealing with a PIL filed in year 2012 and a batch of petitions relating to pollution-generation by commercial units in Shastripuram residential area. In 2020, the court had directed the GHMC to vacate such units by following the due process. When the notices were served, more than 116 unit owners have approached the single bench of the high court and others went to the City Civil Court for relief.
As per a report, 345 units were identified as pollution-causing in the 30 acres of the Shastripuram residential area. Some 146 of these units have shifted to other areas after they received closure notice. Some of the units have been closed.
