Telangana High Court Slams HYDRAA Over Medchal-Malkajgiri Demolitions

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday held prima facie that the demolition of compound walls by HYDRAA on plots in the approved Vani Cooperative Housing Society in Medchal-Malkajgiri district amounted to contempt of court. Questioning whether officials were running a parallel government, Justice NV Shravan Kumar directed the court Registry to issue notices in suo motu contempt proceedings against the authorities.

The proceedings arose from a petition filed by P Linga Rao and six other plot owners challenging the demolition of compound walls around their properties in Survey Nos. 194/1 and 211. The demolitions were carried out on July 18 without prior notice.

During the hearing, the Medchal-Malkajgiri collector and the tahsildars of Alwal and Malkajgiri appeared before the court and stated that they had not issued any administrative letters or directions authorizing the demolitions. The court questioned under whose authority the structures were destroyed, observing that officials could not act arbitrarily in the name of protecting government land without proper verification.

Justice Shravan Kumar expressed concern that authorities were taking the law into their own hands and forcing officials to appear before courts to justify demolitions carried out without supporting records, thereby wasting judicial time. The court also questioned HYDRAA on how it concluded the land belonged to the government when official surveyors had not participated in the exercise, and asked why HYDRAA had failed to file a counter in the contempt proceedings.

Government Pleader Katram Muralidhar Reddy submitted that Survey No. 194 comprised 12 acres of patta land, of which 4 acres had allegedly vested in the government under urban land ceiling laws. However, the court noted that official records did not show that required notices had been served on the petitioners.

Observing that court orders regarding the property had been in place since 2022, the court stated that carrying out demolitions without appropriate orders appeared to constitute contempt. HYDRAA submitted to the court that 30 to 40 demolitions had been carried out in the Malkajgiri area. The court subsequently directed the district collector to submit a detailed report, including information on court orders and permissions relating to the demolitions.