HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court, headed by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T Vinod Kumar, has expressed concern over the arguments put forth by the counsel representing the Lake Protection Committee (LPC). The bench had previously instructed the committee to establish buffer zones and determine the Full Tank Level (FTL) for lakes within the jurisdiction of the HMDA. The PIL in the case is scheduled for a hearing on August 18.
During the course of deliberations, the court asked the respondent counsel whether buffer zones of the lakes have been identified. It also wanted to know the total number of lakes falling under the purview of the HMDA. In response, the counsel representing the LPC said that there are 3,532 lakes in the HMDA region. Among these, buffer zones have been identified for 239 lakes, while preliminary notifications have been issued for the remaining to facilitate their buffer zone delineation.
After listening to the arguments from LPC, the court emphasised the paramount importance of preserving these lakes for the benefit of future generations. The judges raised pertinent questions regarding the legal basis for the preliminary notifications and sought clarification on the committee’s actions in alignment with the court’s earlier directives. The court also expressed reservations about the feasibility of implementing geo-tagging for the lakes without a clear understanding of their fundamental boundaries.
The bench instructed the counsel to provide detailed reports about the lakes situated within the HMDA limits by the next scheduled hearing date.