Hyderabad: Days after ordering the removal of HYDRAA commissioner AV Ranganath in a contempt case, Telangana high court on Thursday came down heavily on the agency’s demolition practices, questioning whether it was functioning as a “parallel executive system” and observing that govt authorities, not litigants, were misleading courts.Justice NV Shravan Kumar also found prima facie discrepancies in HYDRAA’s justification for demolishing a compound wall and a watchman room on a private plot in Kondapur, noting that records did not show any direction from either the Serilingampally tahsildar or the district collector authorising such action.“Is HYDRAA running a parallel executive system or govt?” the judge wondered, while observing that he fully endorses the July 27 orders passed by Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti in a contempt case involving HYDRAA and Ranganath.“You (HYDRAA) do whatever you want, demolish without following the procedure, you don’t respect the court orders,” said Justice Shravan Kumar, adding, “You cannot talk about the Institutions. What are the courts meant for…?”The observations came during the hearing of a petition filed by Pemmasani Sudha Rani, who alleged that revenue and HYDRAA authorities demolished her compound wall and the watchman room on a 350 square yard plot in Kondapur without issuing a prior notice.The judge observed that it was clear there was no coordination between the revenue department and HYDRAA in carrying out the demolition.Examining the records, the court noted that HYDRAA had not been specifically directed to undertake any demolition. The only communication on record was a copy marked to the HYDRAA commissioner relating to the protection of govt land in survey No. 59, whereas the petitioner’s property was located in survey No. 60.“There is no appropriate explanation from the respondents on this aspect,” the judge pointed out.The petitioner contended that despite earlier high court directions permitting her to construct a compound wall, HYDRAA officials entered the property in Oct 2025, demolished the structures without notice and attempted to dispossess her from the land.Pursuant to directions issued by the court on July 28, the Serilingampally tahsildar appeared before the court on Thursday and stated that neither he nor his office had issued any communication or instruction to HYDRAA to demolish structures on the petitioner’s plot.Justice Shravan Kumar further observed that even if the land was govt property, authorities were required to follow due process and issue notice by granting at least minimum time to the alleged encroachers.The court also questioned the authorities on why no action had been initiated under the Telangana Land Encroachment Act before resorting to demolition.Directing the respondents to file detailed counters within a week, the court ordered the tahsildar to remain present during further hearings until disposal of the matter.
