Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Tuesday gave the state govt and departments concerned two weeks’ time to file counters in a batch of petitions seeking to protect lakes.The petitions sought directions from the court to protect certain lakes, prevent encroachments, stop dumping of construction debris and soil into these lakes, and curb release of industrial pollutants into these water bodies.The court warned of imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 per petition if the counters were not filed within two weeks, adding that this was a ‘final opportunity’ for the govt. The bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin passed the directions while hearing 15 petitions, including four PILs, concerning Malkam Cheruvu at Raidurg, Krindi Kunta at Hydernagar in Kukatpally, Chinnacheruvu at Ramanthapur, and Ameenpur lake in Sangareddy district.During the hearing, special govt pleader Pottigari Sridhar Reddy informed the bench that counters were yet to be filed in three matters, and sought two more weeks’ time for doing so.Additional solicitor general (Telangana) B Narasimha Sharma informed the bench that a counter on behalf of the Centre was filed in a PIL concerning the protection and conservation of Ameenpur lake.Recording the submissions, the bench granted two weeks’ time, and directed all parties to submit their written submissions three days before the next date of hearing.Posting the matters to be listed after four weeks, the bench made it clear that no further adjournment would be granted for filing a reply or rejoinder in any of these matters after the time stipulated.
