HC Questions GHMC Over Delay In Razing Illegal Buildings

Hyderabad: The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad on Thursday questioned Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) the delay in razing illegal buildings in the city.

The Court directed commissioner B Janardhan Reddy to explain within one week why the civic body was dragging its feet on the contentious issue. The bench of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A Shankar Narayana, while hearing a public interest petition filed by M Padmanabha Reddy of Forum For Good Governance (FGG), questioned why the civic body needed more time to act as the guidelines for going ahead with demolition was already in place.

The FGG had challenged the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS) introduced by the state government to regularise illegal structures after collecting penalty. Though the bench had earlier restrained authorities from finalising the BRS applications, it modified the order later and directed the civic body to identify structures that are illegal and reject such applications.

When the GHMC counsel P Kesava Rao sought for four more weeks saying they were yet to finalise the modalities, the bench said that it will not give the civic body more than a week.