Submit plans of new secretariat: Telangana HC tells state government

The petitioners appealed to the HC to grant stay on shifting the offices of the Secretariat to other buildings and demolition of the existing structure.
Telangana High Court. (File Photo| EPS)
Telangana High Court. (File Photo| EPS)

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court said on Monday that it had only granted a stay on the demolition of the existing Secretariat and asked the State government to prepare architectural plans for a new Secretariat complex.

A division bench of the HC said it had not prevented the government from finalising designs, architectural plans and budget estimates for constructing a new Secretariat complex at Saifabad in the city.

The bench directed Principal Secretary, Roads and Buildings, Sunil Sharma, to finalise the above and submit the same in the form of an additional counter affidavit before the court on February 12. “The Court never stopped the State government from going ahead in preparing the architectural plans, cost estimates of the proposed complex. The State government has the liberty to go ahead with its work of preparing plans,” the bench noted.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy, was passing this order in the batch of PILs filed separately in 2016 by Congress MLA T Jeevan Reddy, advocate T Rajinikanth Reddy and the Forum for Good Governance, an NGO.

The petitioners appealed to the HC to grant stay on shifting the offices of the Secretariat to other buildings and demolition of the existing structure. When the matter came up for hearing, State Additional Advocate General J Ramachandra Rao submitted that the government had not taken any further step in finalising building plans as the matter was sub judice.

An amount of Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore is required for the proposed new buildings. The area allotted to all the 32 departments which were previously functioning in the Secretariat is 4.45 lakh square feet. This area for each department could be decided only after designs of the proposed complex were finalised. Ramachandra Rao said, urging the court to dispose off the PILs.

Reacting to the AAG’s submissions, the bench said that the Court had not issued any orders stopping the State from finalising designs. "How can the government say that the expenditure will be about Rs 400 crore in the absence of designs and plans," the bench questioned the AAG.

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