Telangana High Court on Wednesday appointed Deputy Solicitor General Gade Praveen Kumar and Government Pleader for Revenue Srikanth Reddy as advocate commissioners to inspect 16 lakes in and around the city and submit a report within three weeks on illegal encroachments of the water bodies.
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A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti passed the order while hearing a suo moto taken-up Public Interest Litigation filed in 2007 seeking a direction for protection of lakes allegedly being encroached upon by private individuals. A civilian wrote a letter to the HC in 2007 stating that lakes in and around Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts were disappearing due to illegal encroachments.
Taking up the letter suo moto as PIL petition, the HC issued notices to top officials of Revenue and Municipal Administration department, Pollution Control Board, GHMC and Collectors of Rangareddy and Hyderabad districts. When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, the GHMC Commissioner informed the court that fencing around Durgam Cheruvu had been completed.
Interestingly, the Additional Advocate General Imran Khan submitted to the court in a report that fencing around Durgam Cheruvu was practically not feasible as a cycle track was being laid there. In this backdrop of conflicting submissions, the bench passed direction appointing Mr. Praveen Kumar and Mr. Srikanth Reddy as advocate commissioners to inspect the water bodies and submit a report.