Sankranti Vacation: HC to remain closed till Jan 17

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court will remain closed for Sankranti Vacation till January 17 and reopens on January 18. Vacation Bench comprising of Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy will hear the matters on January 11 and 12.

While Justice A Abhishek Reddy will take up Single Bench matters, the senior judges will allocate the subject matters. The Vacation Bench judges will hear the matters of Habeas Corpus, anticipatory bail and bail applications if bail is refused by Magistrates and Sessions Judges/Additional Sessions Judges.

Further, a notice of any application of urgent nature shall be given to the Vacation Officers before 1.30 pm on the day of filing. All lunch motions/urgent motions relating to the Division Bench shall be moved before the Senior Judge sitting. All lunch motions/urgent motions relating to the Single Bench shall be moved before the Single Judge only.

Routine matters will not be taken up during vacation, except with the permission from the Senior Vacation Judge.

Plea for saving Devuni Kunta Cheruvu from encroachers heard

Hyderabad: The High Court on Friday issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of Municipal Administration, Revenue and Home Departments, along with HMDA, GHMC and the Lake Protection Committees and the District Collector, Hyderabad regarding a suo moto cognizance of a letter alleging the encroachment of Devuni Kunta Cheruvu, located in Asifnagar and solid waste collected from different parts of the city being dumped into it.

The High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice MS Ramachandra Rao has given four weeks' time to the government officials concerned to file their responses on the suo moto. The Court appointed Avinash Desai, standing counsel for the State Election Commission, as the Amicus Curiae in the plea to assist the Court in adjudicating it.

The Bench directed all the officials concerned cited to file a status report duly responding to the content of the letter furnished by the petitioner, Dr Lubna Sarwath, urging to restore the Devuni Kunta/Humayun Kunta Cheruvu in Asifnagar, and increase the storage capacity by evicting encroachments besides dredging the lake and restoring the inflow and outflow channels and if necessary, make new channels for the capture of rainwater.

Further, the plea contended that the efforts were not made by the authorities in taking up dredging to remove the silt in the Cheruvu. Such non-action on the part of the officials was seriously affecting the lake and to evict the encroachers from the lake area. The matter would be heard next after four weeks.

PIL seeks relocation of dumping yard from Jiyaguda

Hyderabad: The High Court division bench comprising of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice MS Ramachandra Rao on Friday heard a suo moto case of petitioner Kasturi Pavan seeking to shift the dumping yard from Jiyaguda.

The petitioner, in a letter, contended that many families around the dumping yard were getting seriously affected due to poor quality of the air, soil and groundwater contaminated due to dumping of waste in the vicinity. The petitioner further urged the High Court to direct the Telangana State Pollution Control Board to take immediate action against the authorities concerned.

The petitioner sought a direction to the State government to form a committee and submit a detailed report on dumping of garbage in Jiyaguda and to relocate the dumping yard to an alternative place keeping in mind the health of the residents living in the vicinity of the dumping yard.

The Chief Justice bench, after hearing, issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of Municipal Administration, Forest & Environment Department, Revenue Department apart from Commissioner GHMC, Telangana State Pollution Control Board and the District Collector, Hyderabad.

The Court further appointed Avinash Desai, standing counsel for The State Election Commission, as Amicus Curiae in the suo moto case, seeking his assistance in adjudicating the PIL and reporting the matter after visiting the dumping yard. The Court also gave four weeks' time to the officials concerned to file a status report on the contentions raised by the petitioner and posted the next hearing to February 18.