High Court Halts Demolition of Akbaruddin Owaisi Trust Building in Bandlaguda

The Telangana High Court on Monday ordered a status quo on the proposed demolition of a seven-storied educational building belonging to the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust at Keshavagiri near Bandlaguda, Hyderabad. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy issued the interim direction while hearing a petition challenging the orders to demolish the structure. The educational trust was founded by AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi.

The High Court's decision to temporarily halt the demolition of the building comes in light of a pending Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS) application. The trust had submitted this regularization application to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in January 2016, and it remains under consideration.

"Pending consideration of the building regularisation application, status quo shall be maintained in respect of the subject property," Justice Reddy stated in his interim direction.

The judge also directed the municipal authorities to explain their official stand on the matter by the next date of hearing. The High Court has adjourned the matter to August 3 for further hearing on the petition.

The legal petition challenging the demolition orders was filed on behalf of the trust by Vedyam Anand, who serves as a trustee and the authorized representative of the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust.

The seven-storied structure is part of an educational campus run by the trust at the Keshavagiri site. However, the campus is facing multiple legal challenges. A separate petition is currently pending before a coordinate bench of the High Court regarding the same property.

That separate petition alleges that the campus structure is located within the Full Tank Level (FTL) of the Salkam Cheruvu lake. It further claims that the trust does not have the requisite government permissions for constructing the building and running its educational institutions on the site. The coordinate bench of the High Court is scheduled to hold a hearing on that matter on July 9.