Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Wednesday imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on HYDRAA for fencing a private land in Mallapur in violation of earlier court rulings, terming the action ‘arbitrary and high-handed’.The court also directed the agency to remove the fence immediately and warned of daily penalties for non-compliance.Justice NV Shravan Kumar ordered that the fine be paid to the petitioners as damages and ruled that HYDRAA must pay an additional Rs 1 lakh per day until the fence is removed.The directions came while hearing two petitions challenging the fencing of two separate 500-square yard plots in Bhabhanagar Cooperative Housing Society Ltd at Mallapur in Uppal mandal.“This court has emphatically observed that any act of fencing or fixing boards should be on the directions of jurisdictional courts or high court. However, in this case, HYDRAA high-handedly fenced the land and, after writ petitions were filed, is now justifying its act without following the due process of law,” Justice Shravan Kumar said in the order.While HYDRAA defended its action, the petitioners contended that their ownership had already been confirmed by a trial court and that the judgment had not been challenged.The petitioners stated that officials of the GHMC and the LB Nagar zonal office were aware of the trial court orders, which were binding on them, and but still instructed HYDRAA to fence the land. An advocate commissioner appointed by the court also conducted a site survey and submitted a report.Taking a serious view of this, the court observed that authorities should not have proceeded with fencing once the petitioners’ rights had been determined by the trial court.The judge posted the matter to March 18 for further hearing.
