HYDERABAD: In a shocking development, the Telangana High Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant against the special chief secretary of Municipal Administration, Arvind Kumar, and asked the DGP to arrest him and send him to jail.
The court, however, withdrew the order after entreaties by the special government pleader. The court expressed its annoyance at the scant regard being shown by officials to its orders. The court had summoned Arvind Kumar to appear before it on Friday but he did not turn up, citing Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s programme as the reason.
The division bench was hearing the PIL brought in by Hyderabad Heritage Trust, seeking a directive to the Telangana government to begin repairs and conservation work on the heritage monument Hill Fort Palace.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy, summoned Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Arvind Kumar, to appear before it on December 23, for failing to comply with the court’s orders despite multiple orders.
Prior to this order, on November 9, commissioners and secretaries of the Finance and Tourism departments as well as the MD of TSTDC, GHMC commissioner, and HMDA vVice-Chairman, HMDA, appeared before the bench and presented a report on the steps taken by the Telangana Government to restore and conserve the Hill Fort Palace located at Naubahat Pahad, Hyderabad.
But Arvind Kumar did not appear in court on November 9, 2022, citing a family wedding, and he did not appear on Friday citing the Chief Minister’s programme. During previous hearings, the bench voiced displeasure over the officials for being lazy in undertaking the repair works. The court said that the State has not done even the preliminary work for the previous two-and-a-half years.
During previous sessions, Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan asked the officials named to notify the court “when they will begin the real job by providing a time frame”. Despite BS Prasad, the Advocate General’s guarantee on the penultimate date of the hearing, the court’s orders were not followed.