HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday ordered the commissioner of the Nalgonda municipality to maintain status quo with regard to a BRS party office in the town which was allegedly constructed without securing prior approval from the municipality.
The order came in response to a writ appeal filed by Ramavath Ravinder Kumar, representing the BRS, challenging the order issued by a single judge, Justice T Vinod Kumar, directing the municipal authorities to demolish the party office. The single judge was hearing a plea filed by the BRS which received a notice from the municipality informing that the office building would be razed within 15 days as it was illegally constructed.
In his orders dated September 18, Justice Kumar rejected the BRS request to set aside the demolition notice and also instructed the party to pay a penalty of Rs 1 lakh to the District Legal Service Authority, Nalgonda, for violating municipal regulations.
On Friday, senior counsel P Sri Raghuram, representing the BRS, presented the appeal before a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao. He argued that the order of the single judge should be overturned. After hearing the arguments, the Bench granted a temporary reprieve by ordering status quo to be maintained until October 14.
The BRS party office in question occupies a one-acre plot of land in Survey Nos. 1,498 and 1.506 in Nalgonda village and mandal. The land was allocated for the construction of the office through GO No. 167 dated August 16, 2018, and GO 66 dated June 21, 2019 when the BRS was in power. These allocations were allegedly made in violation of the rules in force at the time.