Telangana High Court pulls up State for failure to notify buffer zones

The High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, expressed dissatisfaction on Wednesday with the State government's failure to notify buffer zones for all existing water bodies under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).

By LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

Hyderabad: A two-judge bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, expressed dissatisfaction on Wednesday with the State government’s failure to notify buffer zones for all existing water bodies under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).

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The bench took suo moto cognizance of the issue, following the State government’s failure to comply with previous court directives. The court had earlier instructed the Lake Protection Committee to notify the buffer zones for all water bodies within HMDA limits by July 24. Earlier, the HMDA Commissioner informed the court that out of 3,532 lakes, only 230 had received final notifications, and 2,525 had preliminary notifications. An undertaking was given to issue final notifications for the remaining lakes within three months.

Despite this assurance, the court found that progress remained slow, with only 530 lakes having final notifications and 2,846 lakes receiving preliminary notifications. The bench reprimanded the State for its lack of urgency and directed the government to submit a detailed status report on the buffer zone notifications by December 30.