Telangana HC Fines GHMC, HMDA for Rolling Hills Layout Revision
Justice Bhaskar Reddy was hearing two writ petitions — one filed by Sattiraju Venkateswarlu and others, and another by the Rolling Hills House Owners Association — challenging the GHMC and HMDA’s approval of a revised layout that altered open spaces and community amenities
Hyderabad: Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy of the Telangana High Court struck down the controversial revised layout plan for the upscale Rolling Hills residential community in Gachibowli and imposed exemplary costs on the civic authorities and developers involved. The court directed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to pay `1 lakh each and Patel Engineering Limited and PBSR Developers Pvt. Ltd. to pay `2 lakh each. The amounts are to be deposited in the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund within four weeks.
Justice Bhaskar Reddy was hearing two writ petitions — one filed by Sattiraju Venkateswarlu and others, and another by the Rolling Hills House Owners Association — challenging the GHMC and HMDA’s approval of a revised layout that altered open spaces and community amenities. The original layout, sanctioned in 2004 for an 18.14-acre gated community in Gachibowli, had been sold to individual buyers who built and occupied 101 independent villas. The designated park area (8,833 sq.yds) and amenities zone (1,742 sq. yds) were handed over to the civic bodies and maintained by the residents.
Years later, the developer, in coordination with GHMC and HMDA, revised the layout in April 2013, January 2015 and November 2017 — claiming to reallocate open space by merging land from adjacent Sy. No. 32. The residents raised objections when attempts were made to demolish a compound wall and modify common areas. The petitioners first approached a civil court and later moved the High Court, arguing that their vested rights were being violated without due process. They cited Condition No. 12 of the original permit, which explicitly barred any post-approval alterations.
In a 30-page judgment, Justice Bhaskar Reddy found that officials had ignored statutory safeguards and allowed illegal changes despite the residents occupying the layout for over a decade. He referred to Supreme Court rulings to affirm that collusion between officials and developers cannot override the rights of lawful homeowners.
Rejecting the respondents’ argument of delay and laches, the court observed that residents acted promptly upon discovering the physical consequences of the revised layout. The judge warned that condoning such manipulations could open the floodgates to similar violations across urban layouts.
