Telangana High Court stalls order to raze Secretariat

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court (HC) on Friday reserved orders on a batch of PILs filed against demolition of the existing Secretariat building. The PILs challenged the cabinet decision on the Secretariat demolition.

When the matter came up for hearing before the division bench, advocate B Rachna Reddy, appearing for Forum for Good Governance, said no material was taken into consideration while taking a decision by the State cabinet on June 18 last year to demolish the existing Secretariat buildings. Despite court orders, the government has not placed on record with regard to architectural plans, layout, designs and so on of the proposed new Secretariat buildings.

In fact, there is blatant abuse of public exchequer when the State is reeling under financial crisis, she argued and urged the court to set aside the cabinet decision.

On the other hand, State advocate general BS Prasad stated there is no ulterior motive behind the cabinet decision.

‘No way to change buildings’ condition’
The State advocate general argued that the technical committee found that it is not possible to make any changes to the conditions in the existing Secretariat buildings that have eight blocks in congested places. Except for two blocks, other blocks in the Secretariat are not conducive to function, he noted and urged for dismissal of PILs