HC to HYDRAA: answer on lake
Telangana High Court has sought responses from top state officials in a contempt plea over alleged non‑compliance on Salkam Cheruvu’s FTL and buffer. The court’s patience with shifting stands is visibly thinner than the lake’s buffer zone on a layout map.
The High Court has sought officials’ responses on Salkam Cheruvu’s FTL and buffer zone.
The Telangana High Court has sought responses from senior officials — including Special Chief Secretary (MA&UD) Jayesh Ranjan and HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath — to a contempt petition alleging they did not comply with earlier directions on constructions inside Salkam Cheruvu’s Full Tank Level (FTL) and buffer zone. The petition is by advocate Vijay Gopal and names the Lake Protection Committee chair, Principal Secretaries for School Education, Irrigation and Revenue, and the Hyderabad Collector as respondents, according to a report on August 8.
Those “earlier directions” included a joint Irrigation–Revenue survey to fix the FTL, filing counter‑affidavits, and shifting students out of allegedly illegal buildings linked to the Barrister Fatima Owaisi Educational Institutions and Salar‑E‑Millat Educational Trust, as reported from July hearings. Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar had reminded officials that lakes are a larger public issue and “nobody is above the law.”
HYDRAA’s public line has been that it will follow the court. Its commissioner previously said a preliminary probe showed the college sits on the FTL, pending final notification — and then the files kept walking between departments while the campus stayed put. The court has now asked the officials to explain the change of stance on Survey No. 62 and the “final notification” they rely on; the primary order and case number weren’t published with the reports.
This is what accountability looks like when it finally shows up: a bench forcing answers on a lake boundary the bureaucracy has treated as a suggestion. The BJP‑led Centre isn’t in the dock here, but its favourite “ease of doing business” crowding out “protect the water bodies” is the backdrop. And the Congress government running Telangana today doesn’t get to hide behind paperwork — the court has asked for action, not a fresh file note.