Telangana High Court reserves judgment in Errum Manzil demolition case

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement in the Errum Manzil case.
Errum Manzil (File Photo | EPS)
Errum Manzil (File Photo | EPS)

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement in the Errum Manzil case. The bench was dealing with batch PILs challenging the government’s decision to demolish Errum Manzil building, a heritage structure in the city, and to construct a new Assembly and Council complex in its place. The bench examined the Master Plan 2010 and Master Plan 2031 the Telangana government had presented to it. The government told the bench Hyderabad had seven master plans, including one prepared by the HMDA. It said master plans would be prepared from time to time to meet future requirements.

The bench asked the government counsel which master plan was in force now since there were variations between the 2010 and 2031 plans. “In the 2010 plan, protection was provided to heritage buildings but not in the later one,” the bench noted. In reply, Special Counsel of Telangana, A Sanjeev Kumar sought time to give clarification in writing regarding the matter.

Senior counsel D Prakash Reddy, appearing for one of the petitioners, told the court that Errum Manzil was notified as a heritage structure in the 2010 master plan submitted by the HMDA. The State government has no power to repeal Regulation 13, vide GO 183. In fact, it was the government’s assumption that the repealing of Regulation 13 was valid.

The Cabinet’s decision to demolish the Errum Manzil was vitiated and the decision was untenable, he argued and urged the court to allow all the above PILs challenging the probable demolition.   Concluding the arguments, the bench directed both the State government and the petitioners to submit their arguments in written and reserved its judgment.

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