Relief to Tirupati Reddy: HC stays HYDRAA demolitions around Durgam Cheruvu

Hyderabad: In a sigh of relief for the residents of Amar Cooperative Society in Madhapur, the Telangana High Court on Monday issued an interim order halting HYDRAA demolitions around Durgam Cheruvu.

Anumula Tirupati Reddy, brother of chief minister A Revanth Reddy also stays at Amar Cooperative Society in Madhapur. The land is registered under the name of P Koteshwar Rao.

A few weeks ago, the Serilingampally Revenue Department served a notice to Tirupati Reddy to demolish his illegal residence in Amar Society which falls under the Full Tank Level (FTL) of Durgam Cheruvu. The notice, issued under Section 23 (1) of the WALTA Act, mentioned that Tirupati Reddy’s property came under the FTL of Durgam Cheruvu and gave a deadline to demolish it within a month after receiving the notices.

Responding to the notices, Tirupati Reddy said that he had purchased the property in 2015, and was unaware that the land was classified with the FTL of Durgam Cheruvu at the time of purchase. “I have no problem with any remedial measures the government takes as part of their larger effort to deal with such encroachments if they find his construction is on FTL land,” he said.

‘FTL is 160 acres’

The court heard the petitions filed by a section of the residents that the Full Tank Level (FTL) determination of Durgam Cheruvu was not done scientifically. As per records Durgam Cheruvu FTL was only 65 acres. The authorities said it was 160 acres. The advocates brought it to the attention of the court. The residents even raised objections to the preliminary notification issued in 2014.

After hearing the arguments, the high court directed the Lake Protection Committee to take the objections into account and issue the final notification within six weeks from October 4. Apart from that, the residents of Durgam Cheruvu must appear before the Lake Protection Committee on October 4. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) also informed the court it would not carry out any demolition exercise in the next six weeks.

Show law by which Durgam Cheruvu FTL was decided: HC to State

On September 20, the Telangana High Court expressed concern over the ‘casual attitude and approach’ by the State officials in fixing the FTL (full tank level) of Durgam Cheruvu without a standard procedure or law in place.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao, asked the State Government to inform the court of the procedure and the law to be followed or an executive order under which the FTL of the Durgam Cheruvu was fixed.

The CJ directed the GP to show the same by September 23 (Monday) for further hearing.