Justice Challa Kodandaram of Telangana High Court on Thursday took to task Commissioner Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Dana Kishore over the way illegal structures were coming up in the city and the failure of authorities in controlling unauthorised construction activities.

Mr. Dana Kishore along with Deputy Commissioner (Town Planning) Uma Prakash and assistant city planner, Abids, G. Satyanarayana appeared before the court after the judge suo moto issued contempt of court notice to them for failing to comply with the court direction in an illegal construction related matter. Grilling the officials over illegal constructions in and around the city, the judge sought to know what was their action plan to control the menace.

The grandchildren of persons building structures by violating rules too would find it difficult to survive in such unsafe environment and everyone should realise this, the judge observed. The official trio submitted to the court that building rule violators were approaching the civil courts and securing injunction orders rendering them helpless.

Satellite mapping

The Commissioner told the court that the corporation was planning to use satellite technology to keep tab on the status of buildings to ascertain if construction work was being carried out in conformity with the approved building plans. Already, a proposal for creating a special tribunal to deal with such issues was moved, he explained to the court.

There was a need to educate people about the dangerous consequences of illegal structures because they make city unsafe to live in, the judge observed. Since the High Court too was thinking of dealing with the matter, the judge said he would refer the issue to the Chief Justice for placing it before an appropriate bench.

Court orders

Earlier, a resident of Chikkadpally had moved the HC stating that the GHMC officials were not responding even as an illegal structure was being raised in his locality. The GHMC authorities and counsel presented to the court that the person building the structure secured an order from lower court. Following this submission, the judge directed the GHMC Commissioner and the other two officials to go to the spot, inspect the structure and present a report to the court. As the officials failed to follow the direction, the judge on this January 4 issued contempt notice to the officers trio to appear before him.

After hearing their explanations on Wednesday, the judge dispensed with their further appearance before the court.