HYDERABAD: Even as the Telangana High Court is questioning the proposed demolition of Errum Manzil by the State government with reference to the provisions in General Clauses Act, activists and advocates are looking over their shoulders, given the State’s history of overnight demolitions.
In 2015, the century-old IAS Officers Club was demolished even though the building was notified as a Grade II-B Heritage building as per GO No 185.
Stating that there is no discrepancy in the law, lawyers and activists alike have instead called the State government’s motives roguish and untrustworthy and therefore are not heaving a sigh of relief over the High Court’s response to the petitions over Errum Manzil.
A bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther had reminded the State Council of the provisions in General Clauses Act that clearly says that even if a State brings in a new law by repealing an old one, all protections available to persons and structures in the old law would continue in the new law.
‘Abusive admin ploy’
Advocate Rachana Reddy, a lawyer representing one of the petitioners, said, “There is no inconsistency in how the heritage buildings are treated in the State. Because this time we put up a serious front and we have people watching any kind of over traction in Errum Manzil case, the High Court argument has seen the light of the day. What happened with the IAS Officers Club building was that, when the matter was sub judice, the State very stealthily razed the building down leaving no scope for anyone to save the building.”
Citing the incident, Rachana Reddy says she is not going to back off or give the administration a chance to revisit the 2015 incident even though she welcomes the break through in the litigation. “What happened back then was an abusive administrative ploy, where the government blatantly lied to win it’s case,” she added.
Government took advantage
Recollecting the short-span case that was fought for the IAS Officers Club building, Omim Maneckshaw Debara, the advocate who had filed the request for a stay order on the demolition of that building said: “The request for a stay order was filed on a Friday. The State government took advantage of that and demolished the building during the weekend. When I presented the court with newspaper clippings about the incident, the court asked me to get one journalist who would speak under oath and confirm that the demolition was done on the weekend and not before. I could find no one.”