HYDERABAD: The University of Hyderabad (UoH) appealed before a division bench of the Telangana High Court, challenging the order of a single judge, who dismissed the plea of UoH seeking to restrain authorities from laying an approach road through its campus admeasuring over 18.30 acres.
The stretch has been constructed from the Indian School of Business (ISB) to the Government employees colonies at Gachibowli in Serilingampally mandal of Rangareddy district.
Counsel for the petitioner requested the bench to stop the traffic on the newly laid road which passes through the varsity campus. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, refused to stop the traffic flow and observed that “we can’t pass such orders without hearing other side”. However, the bench issued notices to the State government represented by its Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department Secretary, GHMC, District Collector of Rangareddy and Tahsildar of Serilingampally mandal.
“The site is part of the 2,324 acres allotted by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government in 1975 to establish the university campus. The land was encroached upon and the authorities proposed to lay an approach road on it without taking permission from the university,” the counsel said. In 2012, the UoH had opposed the proposal of parting with its land for the construction of the road and the same was indicated to the authorities too.
Despite this, the Collector had directed the Tahsildar to hand over the physical possession of the land to the GHMC for the road and levelling of the area was taken up despite the land continuing to be with the university. After which the university had filed a writ petition challenging the decision of the Collector and the single-judge bench dismissed the plea of UoH.