HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday refused to reopen the PIL on the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS) stating that the Supreme Court will come down heavily on the court if it did. “Why is the State so eager to regularise all such structures which are constructed in violation of rules? Why is the State showing such leniency towards the law-breakers,” the court asked.
While adjourning the case hearing, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy direct advocate General (AD) BS Prasad to get a copy of clarification issued by the Supreme Court on this PIL, for reopening the PIL for adjudication and posted the PIL to February 16, 2023.
The bench turned down the AD’s request to reopen the case, opposing the Telangana government’s decision to introduce the Building Regularisation Scheme in order to assist those who had built structures without first receiving permission from the relevant authorities.
According to this plan, such individuals were given permission by the Telangana government to approach the relevant officials and submit applications in order to request the regularisation of their properties upon payment of the necessary fee. However, this process has been put on hold as a result of the High Court’s decision to close the PIL hearing.
New law
This PIL was filed in 2016 and then brought before the Supreme Court in 2020, where Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were named as respondents. The case is now pending before the Supreme Court.
The AG informed the Chief Justice Court of a new law that the Telangana government had passed outlining strict regulations that would prevent residents from engaging in unlawful constructions and then approaching the authorities for regularisation.
The purpose of the current temporary application was to assist residents who built outdated structures without first getting authorisation from the authorities concerned. After hearing the arguments of the AG, Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan rejected to reopen the case.