Justice league

Court slams road through lake area in Warangal Rural

Taking a serious view of the alleged construction of a flyover or road in Shikam land of Katta Mallanna lake in Warangal Rural district, a division bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the District Collector concerned to ensure that no construction takes place in the subject lake until further orders of the court. 

“How did the government propose to construct a road through the tank bed area?” the bench questioned, and directed the State to file its counter affidavit. The bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy was hearing the PIL challenging the construction of the road, which is part of 200-feet Ring Road in Warangal, in deviation of the sanctioned Warangal Master Plan, 1971. The lake is situated in Geesukonda mandal.

The petitioners’ counsel NS Arjun Kumar urged the court to declare the decision concerned as illegal. 
After hearing the case, the bench said contents of the counter affidavit filed by Kakatiya Urban Development Authority (KUDA) were unclear. The bench passed an interim order and posted the matter to Dec 3 for further hearing.

ECI to inform HC today on extension of enrolment date

A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State chief electoral office to inform by Friday whether the date for including names in electoral rolls for Graduates’ constituencies in Telangana can be extended. 

The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed the order in the petition filed by advocate TV Ramesh seeking to extend the date up to Dec 7. The petitioner’s counsel Chikkudu Prabhakar said the State chief electoral officer had concluded the preparation of electoral rolls by November 6, which would deprive many voters from enrolling their names.

Counsel for ECI Avinash Desai told the court that the time schedule prescribed is a statutory one. He sought time to get instructions from the authorities concerned on the issue.After hearing the case, the bench said the present circumstances arising from Covid-19 pandemic, torrential rains, etc. had affected the State, which the ECI should consider.

Interim orders further extended until Nov 30

TAKING suo moto cognizance of the prevailing circumstances in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the full bench of Telangana High Court on Thursday issued orders to extend interim orders passed earlier by the High Court and which were subsisting as on March 20, 2020, till November 30 this year. The bench, which has been extending its interim orders from time to time, had earlier extended all orders till November 6.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice A Rajasheker Reddy passed the order in a suo moto petition for extension of interim orders and abeyance of execution orders. The bench directed the registry to list this case on November 25.