Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court refused to interfere in the matter of regularization of unauthorized constructions and directed the state government to approach the Supreme Court as the matter is pending before it. The High Court questioned the state government as to why it is in a hurry to regularize unauthorized constructions.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyanand Justice Vijay Bhaskar Reddy delivered this judgment on the plea of the Advocate General. Advocate General BS Prasad sought modification of the High Court orders passed in 2016 which restrained municipal authorities from regularizing unauthorized constructions under the BRS scheme.
The Advocate General said that the government will not allow unauthorized constructions on government lands. Apart from this, construction will not be allowed in water catchment areas under GO 111.
The Forum for Good Governance filed a petition against the BRS scheme and said that unauthorized construction was being encouraged by the scheme. The High Court stayed the hearing of all petitions in this matter as the matter is pending in the Supreme Court and which is seeking details from all the states.
Advocate General argued that the cases pending in the Supreme Court are related to illegal layouts and their regularization. He said that this matter has nothing to do with regularization of unauthorized constructions. He said that the government is trying to provide relief to the owners of small and medium houses. He asked the court that considering the difference between the two cases, the state government should be allowed to implement the scheme. In case of permission, the decision of the Supreme Court will have no effect as the BRS case is not pending there. However, despite the Advocate General’s arguments, the High Court refused to intervene.
The division bench said that it cannot pass judgment on the request. It questioned why the state government was showing so much interest in regularizing unauthorized constructions. The High Court adjourned the hearing of the PIL till February 16.
