Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Friday once again ripped into HYDRAA chief A V Ranganath for filing an affidavit in which he did not apologise for violating previous court orders.Hearing the contempt plea by Shanta Sriram Constructions Private Limited over 40 acres of land in Lothukunta, Justice Anil Jukanti noted, “He (Ranganath) has become a law unto himself, suddenly becomes an all-pervading authority and interferes with the administration of justice and does not comply with the orders of the court.”The judge called HYDRAA’s actions “unprecedented and unheard of in the entire history of the high court”. He ordered Ranganath to file a detailed affidavit apologising for violating court orders and giving an assurance that the anti-encroachment agency would not enter the property again. Justice Jukanti also wanted Ranganath to explain the reasons for entering the property on July 18.The judge clarified that Thursday’s order requesting the Army to protect the disputed property would be considered after the affidavit was filed on Monday. “It is also right to note that the chief law officer (advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy) has been very fair to the court, and only on his request, this Court is showing restraint for the third time,” said the judge in his order. While Advocate General appeared for HYDRAA, M Hareesh Kumar appeared for the petitioner firm.Taking a dig at other govt agencies approaching HYDRAA for support, Justice Jukanti asked, “Why are revenue, irrigation, GHMC approaching him (Ranganath)? Have they become toothless? It has become regular for him to flout orders and he is espousing everybody’s cause with a single order (constituting HYDRAA), bypassing all authorities and departments.”The judge further noted that HYDRAA officers must realise that they were extra-constitutional authorities. “If these acts are let go, then there would be no rule of law and the majesty of the court would be at peril. There would be a mockery of court orders,” observed the judge.
