AP & Telangana State Head – Anandam Dundi : –
Telangana : The Telangana High Court on Thursday imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on the state government for failing to adhere to specific directions of the court in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition on the alleged illegal construction activities in the prohibited bio-conservation zone around the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar in violation of various environmental protection laws and regulations.
The division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G M Mohiuddin directed Special Government Pleader S Rahul Reddy to deposit the amount with the Telangana State Legal Services Authority (TSLSA) within one week.
During the last hearing on November 6, the court had granted three weeks’ time to the respondents “by way of last indulgence”.
SGP Reddy, while informing the court of the reasons for not filing a counter-affidavit despite the court’s warning on the last occasion, stated that the authorities were occupied with the recently held Telangana Rising summit, and requested two weeks.
Illegal activity in bio-conservation zone
The petitioner, Mandadi Madhava Reddy, a farmer from Moinabad in Rangareddy district, sought action against the state authorities for failing to prevent the illegal construction of five private convention centres in the prohibited bio-conservation zone within a 10 km radius of the catchment areas of the two reservoirs.
During the last hearing on November 6, the bench had warned that “it would stall all such activities.”
The petitioner held that these activities seriously violated various environmental protection Acts, Supreme Court judgments, and the National Green Tribunal’s judgments, as well as Government Order (GO) 111 of the state government. The petition sought strict and effective implementation of the protective and preventive measures stipulated in the order with respect to the two reservoirs in true letter and spirit.
The petition has also listed Ananda convention-Kothwalguda, Neo convention-Janwada, KLN Utsav-Shankarpally, Aarya-Shankarpally and K convention-Jubilee Hills as unofficial respondents in the PIL.