Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s grandiose plans to build a new magnificent building for the State Secretariat has run into twin troubles as the Hyderabad High Court has issued a stay order against it and Andhra Pradesh Government has refused to vacate the buildings under its use.
Accepting a petition filed by T Jeevan Reddy, deputy floor leader of Congress party in the State Assembly and K Venkat Reddy, another MlA, the High Court today issued a direction to the state government not to demolish any building in the state secretariat till further orders.
The legal cell of Telugu Desam party also filed another petition impleading itself in the case.
Arguing for the government the state advocate general Ramakrishna Reddy said that the demolition of secretariat buildings and constructing a new building was a policy and administrative decision of the State Government. He denied that the plans had anything to do with Vastu belief as petitioner claimed.
The court directed him to file a counter detailing the stand of the Government and fixed the next hearing of the case after two weeks.
Describing the plans of new building for the state secretariat as wasteful the petitioner had sought the intervention of the court. The court told the petitioner that while it will hear the petition against the demolition, it can not interfere with the shifting of the Secretariat offices to the other buildings.
The development came close on the heel of Andhra Pradesh government rejecting the request of Telangana government to vacate the certain block of the Secretariat for constructing a Vastu-compliant state of the art complex. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has constituted a cabinet sub committee headed by the deputy Chief Minister to study the issue of handing over the secretariat buildings.
The buildings were given to Andhra Pradesh government as part of the deal before the bifurcation of the state as Hyderabad was made a joint capital of the two states for ten years.
The committee comprises of the ministers of finance, home, labor and health.