Observing that the State government was not promptly responding to allegations of encroachment of lands which are part of water bodies and illegal constructions there, Telangana High Court on Wednesday instructed it to file a detailed report on the measures to check such encroachments.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, hearing a batch of PIL pleas on alleged encroachments of water bodies and erecting illegal structures there, directed the government to furnish the master plan relating to these areas. There were close to 100 PIL petitions alleging that government lands and water bodies were being occupied by land grabbers.
It was surprising that official machinery was remaining a mute spectator despite illegal occupation of government lands and water bodies, the bench remarked. The courts cannot run parallel administration by issuing orders in such matters. It was the duty and responsibility of the State to ensure not even a small piece of government land was occupied by others, the bench said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Making it clear that the question of permitting constructions in water bodies would not arise, the bench directed the government to furnish details of water bodies, buffer zones, illegal structures erected there, the notices issued and the action taken by the authorities. Observing that officials were providing conflicting information on such disputes, the HC said the government claimed that Tatanagar and Shastripuram were industrial areas.
But the same government maintained that some individuals built houses there. How did the officials allow residential constructions in industrial areas, the bench sought to know. On one hand, irrigation officials said there was a tank in survey No. 345 of Puppalaguda but the revenue officials reject the claim, the court said. The master plan and the details of the pattern of land use available with the HMDA should be presented to the court by July 15, the bench said.