Salar-e-Millat trust bldg: HC status quo on demolition plea

Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Monday ordered status quo in a petition filed challenging orders to demolish a seven-storied building belonging to the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust at Keshavagiri near Bandlaguda, Hyderabad.

The trust was founded by AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi.Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed the interim direction in view of a pending building regularisation scheme application submitted by the trust to GHMC in Jan 2016."Pending consideration of the building regularisation application, status quo shall be maintained in respect of the subject property," said the Judge, while directing authorities to explain their stand in the matter by the next date of hearing.

The matter has been adjourned to Aug 3 for further hearing.This structure is a part of the campus run by the trust, against which a petition is pending before a coordinate bench of the High Court over its alleged location in the FTL of Salkam Cheruvu lake and not having requisite govt permissions for constructing a building and running educational institutions. It is scheduled for a hearing on July 9.Justice Vijaysen Reddy passed the directions while hearing a petition filed by the trust's trustee and authorised representative, Vedyam Anand.

Trust counsel Katika Ravinder Reddy argued that the GHMC officials are attempting to demolish the structure despite the pendency of the BRS application. He urged the court to restrain GHMC from taking any coercive steps until the regularisation application is decided.The property acquired for charity, though it was built without prior GHMC permission, had a regularisation application filed in 2016. "The Trust now runs a free KG-to-PG campus there for 1,000 underprivileged students, and any coercive action would disrupt their education," Ravinder Reddy argued.Standing counsel Raparthi Venkatesh, appearing for GHMC, opposed the contention and urged the petition to be dismissed.