Hill Fort Palace case: TS HC seeks personal appearance of SFD, GHMC commissioners, others

Furious over non-compliance of orders, Telangana High Court has sought the personal appearance of the Secretary, State Finance Department; Managing Director, State Travel and Tourism Development Corporation; Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, and Commissioner Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority on November 22.

On Tuesday, the High Court division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy heard the public interest litigation filed by Hyderabad Heritage Trust seeking action against the respondents for neither taking up nor permitting the petitioner to revive Hill Fort Palace.

This is despite the representations to Chief Secretary, GAD. It had directed the state government authorities to consider taking up protection, preservation, conservation, and maintenance of the Hill Fort Palace immediately or permit the petitioners to revive the monument.

Special GP Andapally Sanjeev Kumar informed the Court that complying with the order, the Finance Department has requested item-wise details of estimation to grant Rs 50 crore.

He requested the Court to give him another four weeks time to submit the report, which is being prepared.

Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan pointed out that the court failed to understand why High-Level Committee did not share details despite repeated orders. The court said the concerned officials ignored and did not feel the urgency.

Lewd over the request of Special GP, the Chief Justice directed the Secretary, State Finance Department; Managing Director, Telangana State Travel and Tourism Development Corporation; Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; and Commissioner, HMDA to be present physically in the Court on November 22.