TS High Court Extends Stay on Demolition of State Secretariat till July 15

The Telangana High Court on Monday extended the temporary stay on demolition of buildings of the state Secretariat till July 15.

A division bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, hearing a petition of prof PL Vishweshwar Rao and Dr Cheruku Sudhakar, had on July 10 ordered the stay till July 13 directing the government to submit its counter with all necessary details that were pointed out by the petitioners.

The petitioners alleged that the demolition of the present Secretariat complex consisting of 10 blocks, approximately 10 lakh sq ft, was being done without following the due procedure of law. The government's act is against the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules 2016; Epidemic Diseases Act 1897; and the Environment Protection Act 1986, among other laws, the petitioners alleged.

The court, while broadening the remain, guided the legislature to submit in a fixed spread the bureau choice on the



destruction. 

The K Chandrashekhar Rao-drove government started flattening the old Secretariat on July 7, days after the High Court excused a lot of PILs provoking the choice to develop another Secretariat. The solicitors claimed that the destruction of the current is an "arbitrary activity" of the state government in a pandemic circumstance, and denies five lakh individuals of the encompassing zones from getting spotless air. 

On June 29, the court had excused PILs moving the state's choice to develop another Secretariat complex by crushing the current one.

After the High Court cleared decks for the construction of the new Secretariat, the demolition of the old building complex began and the foundation stone for the new one was laid on June 27, 2019.

The state government earlier indicated that the new Secretariat which would come up in about seven lakh sq ft would cost around Rs 400 crore and it had decided to equip the new one with state-of-the-art connectivity and other features.