Telangana high court slaps Rs 1L fine on HYDRAA for fencing private land at Mallapur

HYDERABAD: In an unprecedented move, the Telangana high court on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on HYDRAA towards damages for laying a fence on private land in Mallapur in an allegedly high-handed manner and in direct violation of previous court rulings.Justice NV Shravan Kumar directed that the fine amount to be paid to the petitioners, and further instructed the agency to remove the fence immediately. The court ordered payment of Rs 1 lakh per day to the petitioners until the fence is removed from the site. The court passed the directions while hearing two petitions challenging HYDRAA's actions of fencing two separate 500 sq yard plots at Bhabhanagar Cooperative Housing Society Ltd at Mallapur village in Uppal mandal. While HYDRAA defended its actions, the petitioners contended that the matter attained finality in the trial court, which confirmed their ownership, and the same was not challenged.Though GHMC and the LB Nagar zonal commissioner were aware of the trial court orders, which were binding on them, they still went ahead and directed HYDRAA to fence the lands, the petitioners argued. An advocate commissioner appointed by the court to survey the lands to ascertain the facts also presented his report before the court.Taking a stern view of this, the court noted that HYDRAA and other authorities ought not to have fenced the lands when the rights of the petitioner were determined by the trial court."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 stand without following due process of law," Justice Shravan Kumar said in his order.In view of the "arbitrary and high-handed conduct of the respondents", the court ordered HYDRAA to pay Rs 1 lakh to each of the petitioners towards damages. "That apart, if the fencing is not removed, HYDRAA shall pay an amount of Rs 1 lakh per day to the petitioners until the date of removal," said the judge, and adjourned the matter to March 18 for compliance, and also for counters, if any, from authorities and further hearing.