Relief for Telangana govt as HC junks plea against demolition of old Secretariat building

HYDERABAD: In a huge relief to the Telangana government, the state High Court on Friday dismissed the PIL filed by Prof PL Vishweshwar Rao, vice-president of Telangana Jana Samithi, and Cheruku Sudhakar of Telangana Inti Party, against the ongoing demolition of the old Secretariat buildings, in Saifabad area situated adjacent to Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.

The petitioner alleged this is taking place in violation of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016, Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, Environment Protection Act, 1986, and against various judgements of the Supreme Court and High Court.  

The Court took into consideration the submission of assistant solicitor general N Rajeshwar Rao, appearing for the central government, that there is no need for the state to take prior environmental clearance under the EIA Notification, 2006, from the ministry of environment and forests to demolish the subject buildings. The ASG said that the state can obtain necessary permission from the local authority concerned.  

On June 29 this year, the High Court paved the way for construction of a new State Secretariat complex by dismissing a batch of PILs challenging the state cabinet decision to demolish the old Secretariat buildings and raise a new Secretariat complex in its place. The bench refused to interfere in the state's decision saying that it does not find any irregularity in it.

Dealing with the above PIL, the Court earlier sought clarification from the ministry with regard to interpretation of the words "preparation of land". On July 10, the Court, in its interim order, directed the state to stop the demolition forthwith and later extended it thrice.  

State advocate general BS Prasad submitted that the words "construction activity" and "preparation of land" have to be read cojointly. "Preparation of land" does not mean demolishing the standing structure or clearing the land for the purpose of raising a future construction,

The petitioners' counsel Chikkudu Prabhakar contended that the "preparation of land" would include demolition of the standing structure at the site. No future construction can be raised until and unless the standing structures are demolished and levelled.

While dismissing the PIL, the High Court told the state government to take up demolition work only after obtaining all required permissions and keeping in mind the prevailing situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.