Telangana HC extends till tomorrow stay on demolition of Secretariat building

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday extended till tomorrow the stay imposed on the demolition of the Secretariat building in the state, petitioner's counsel advocate Chikkudu Prabhakar said.

Earlier, the High Court had stayed the demolition and asked the state government to submit the details of what permissions they have taken under the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules 2016.

"Today, the petition against the demolition of the Secretariat was heard. The court heard the submissions from both sides. I filed a reply to the counter of the state government. By accepting our contentions, the court was pleased to extend the stay till the next date," Prabhakar said.

He said that advocate general also requested the court to adjourn the matter till July 16.

PL Vishveshwar Rao and Dr C Sudhakar have filed a petition in the High Court against the demolition of the Secretariat claiming it falls under the green zone/buffer zone.

Prabhakar had earlier said that the Secretariat is beside a water body, Hussain Sagar.

"Yet they started demolition causing pollution in the surroundings. In this critical coronavirus situation, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued guidelines to maintain cleanliness, but the State government is violating it and in the name of 'Vasthu' they started demolition which is completely wrong," he had said.

Prabhakar had also questioned the necessity to demolish the building at midnight and why the pollution control board and the environment department were not interfering.

After the High Court gave its clearance to the construction of a new secretariat, the Telangana government authorities had started demolishing the secretariat from the night of July 6.

( With inputs from ANI )