Soni Satti
A divisional bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy after reviewing the records of the buildings listed as unauthorised made the observation that illegal structures must be razed.
The bench had gone through the three zonal commissioners’ individual records. They were submitted to the court in accordance with directions given by the bench during the hearing of a batch of PIL petitions concerning illegal structures in the GHMC district.
Chief Justice Hima Kohli, citing a report by the Secunderabad zonal commissioner, said that only 28 of the 139 illegally built buildings in the district, which were spread through various GHMC circle office jurisdictions, were demolished.
Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy drew the Chief Justice attention to the fact that courts had granted status quo orders in 42 of 46 illegally built buildings in one GHMC circle district.
The Judge has pointed out that, under the pretext of demolishing illegal houses, the authorities are just making holes in the buildings, allowing the owners to continue with the development.
The Chief Justice made it clear to the government that if a building has been marked as illegal, authorities must ensure that it is demolished.
The court ruled that the costs of demolishing illegal structures should be paid out of the owners’ wallets. Chief justice asked, “Why we should not think that you are turning a Nelson’s eye to illegal buildings?”
According to the court, GHMC should have a mechanism in place to monitor and streamline all court proceedings.
In response to charge memos sent to four employees in the Khairatabad district, the Chief Justice inquired as to what action was taken against them after the charge memos were issued.
The bench noted that the GHMC’s demolition of illegal structures was just “cosmetic,” and directed all zonal commissioners to file a new status report on the court proceedings, disciplinary action taken against erring officials, and demolition of illegal structures.