HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Monday said that there was a ‘vast difference between the words and actions’ of the State government with respect to the repeal of Regulation 13 from the HMDA Act.
“If the State government was worried about safeguarding the rights of owners of heritage structures, it could have made an agreement with the latter to protect such structures. Even if Regulation 13 was repealed, whatever decisions taken earlier regarding the subject structures would continue as per Section 6 of General Clauses Act, 1897,” the bench said.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther, made these observations in batch PILs filed challenging the decision of the State government to demolish Errum Manzil and to construct new Legislature buildings in its place. Another PIL was also filed by Noori Muzaffar Hussain and seven others, who claimed to be the legal heirs of Nawab Safdar Jung Musheer-ud-daula Fakrul Mulk — the builder of Errum Manzil — seeking withdrawal of the government’s decision.
Municipal polls
The same bench directed the State government to file its counter affidavit by July 29 in a PIL filed seeking to grant a stay on issuance of notification to conduct municipal elections. Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther were passing this order in the PIL filed by K Anjukumar Reddy, an advocate from Nirmal, with a plea to direct the State to re-conduct the pre-poll exercise in the manner as prescribed under the Municipalities Act.