Salkam Cheruvu: court spoke, files didn’t
Earlier High Court orders on the Salkam Cheruvu encroachment fight are on record. The “fresh contempt” noise doing the rounds? So far, just a Reddit post with no case number, no order, no bench, no signatures.
The court record awaits counters, maps and a signed order.
The Telangana High Court has been on Salkam Cheruvu for months — asking HYDRAA, GHMC, HMDA, the Lake Protection Committee and the School Education Department to answer a PIL over alleged construction by the Barrister Fatima Owaisi Educational Campus and the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust in the lake’s FTL and buffer zone, and reminding the state that “nobody is above the law,” according to published reports. The School Education Department’s own oral submission recorded in court: no permission was granted to operate schools in the alleged structures.
A separate status quo on the campus building that briefly restrained coercive action was recalled after the judge noted a coordinate bench was already seized of the matter. Across hearings, the bench has underlined the obvious: protect lakes for future generations; file your counters when the court asks for them.
What is not on the record yet: any fresh contempt notice this week. The circulating claim names no case, no order date, and cites no eCourts entry — it traces back to a single Reddit relay. Until a signed order turns up, it stays internet noise. The last stated government position in court, for the record, was that there are no constructions inside the FTL — which is exactly what the litigation is meant to test, with evidence, not spin.
This is a governance test, not a WhatsApp poll. Produce the order, file the counters, and show the map. The timeline the BJP-led Centre loves for lecturing states does not apply here; Telangana’s lakes do not run on their calendar.