Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Tuesday directed the state government not to demolish the buildings in the existing secretariat till October 14.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Abhishek Reddy gave the directive on a bunch of petitions against demolishing the existing secretariat to construct a new one at the same site.
The petitioners contended that the state was reeling under a severe financial crisis with huge loans and at this juncture, it was not financially viable nor does it reflect the wisdom on the government’s part to involve in such high expenditure.
Chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone for the new secretariat on June 27.
Subsequently, offices from the administrative complex started shifting to other locations in the city.
The petitioners further contended that the existing secretariat was also used by the dispensation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh and many buildings in the complex were constructed very recently.
They also informed the court that none of the buildings in the existing secretariat are in a dilapidated condition and hence there was no necessity to construct a new secretariat building.
Senior counsel Satyam Reddy, arguing for the petitioners, made a mention that the state cabinet was considering demolishing the existing secretariat building to some extent during the Dussehra vacation.
This situation was conducive for the reason that many offices from the old buildings have been shifted to new locations.
The state government also indicated that the new secretariat, which would come up in about four lakh square feet, would cost around Rs 400 crore and it had decided to equip the new secretariat complex with the state-of-the-art connectivity and other features.
Opposition parties had lodged a protest against the construction of new secretariat buildings by demolishing some of the existing structures.
On September 16, the Telangana high court had set aside the TRS government’s decision to demolish the 19th century Nizam-era Errum Manzil palace building here for the construction of a new state legislature-cum-secretariat complex.
(PTI)