Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed the maintenance of status quo regarding the Fatima Owaisi Educational Institution building in Hyderabad. The court restrained authorities from taking any coercive action against the structure after the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust filed an urgent plea alleging that GHMC officials were attempting to demolish the building. The Trust, which manages the educational institution, approached the High Court through a lunch motion seeking immediate intervention to prevent demolition activities.
The petitioner Trust informed the court that it had submitted an application in 2016 for regularisation of the building under the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS), which remains pending without a final decision. Despite the pending status of this application, GHMC officials reportedly attempted to interfere with and demolish the structure. Senior Counsel B Mayur Reddy, representing the Trust, argued that authorities cannot proceed with demolition when a regularisation application is still under consideration by the concerned department.
The GHMC counsel opposed the petition, contending that the writ petition was not maintainable in its current form. The civic body submitted that the building is located within the Full Tank Level (FTL) of Salkam Cheruvu and that proceedings related to this issue are already pending before another Bench of the High Court. The GHMC further argued that since the final FTL notification has not yet been issued, no interim protection should be granted to the petitioner at this stage.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Vijaysen Reddy directed all parties to maintain status quo until further orders are issued. The court issued notices to the GHMC Commissioner, the Rajendranagar Zonal Commissioner, the Chandrayangutta Deputy Commissioner, and other respondents, calling for their detailed responses. The matter has been adjourned to August for further hearing and consideration of the submissions from all parties involved.
The issue is also part of separate proceedings pending before Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar concerning building permissions, FTL status, and approvals relating to the institution. These related proceedings are scheduled to be taken up on July 9, which may have bearing on the overall resolution of the dispute between the Trust and the municipal authorities.
