Observing that ‘continuous dereliction of duty of GHMC authorities may in the long run turn the State capital into an urban concrete jungle’, the Telangana High Court instructed them to remove the illegal encroachments of the public roads at Block no. 16, HIG-II at Baghlingampally in Hyderabad. 

Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar, passing orders in a writ petition filed by some residents of the locality stating that GHMC authorities were not responding to their grievances over the encroachments, said it was high time authorities like HYDRAA took immediate action to restore the area in accordance with the approved plan conditions. The judge ordered the government to “initiate action against the erring officers whose continued inaction and negligence permitted such encroachments to persist over the years”. 

The judge noted that such ‘indiscriminate encroachments’ in Baghlingampally, where the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Housing Board developed residential colony with apartment blocks, severely restricted the flat owners from making proper use of roads. This colony “stands as a glaring example of how a well-planned residential area can be transformed into a slum like locality due to the continued inaction and neglect of the municipal authorities who fail to act in accordance with law for the reasons best known to them”, the judge said in the order. 

Remarking that encroachments were made on the public roads, parks and spaces for other amenities, the judge said the GHMC officials failed to remove the same despite receiving representations from the flat owners over past several years. Section 7 (6) of the Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self Certification System (TS-BPASS) Act-2020 allows people to alert civic authorities about unauthorised constructions. 

Justice Shravan Kumar cited several Supreme Court verdicts which guided the governments and officials on how to proceed with situations of illegal encroachments of public roads and places. In Baghlingampally issue, the authorities ought to have responded soon after receiving complaints from the flat owners. 

The GHMC Act provisions mandate issuing notices to the persons accused of encroaching public places. However, the judge dispensed with the issuing of notices to 20 private persons in the matter.