IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.17580 of 2003 Between: Bahadurpura Welfare Association having its Regd. Office at 15, Bahadurpura Colony, Hyderabad through its President, P.S. Basappa ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, Rep. through its Commissioner, Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad. 2 Andhra Pradesh Housing Board, Rep. by its Vice Chairman & Housing Commissioner Gruhakalpa, M.J. Road, Hyderabad. 3 The Deputy Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, Sardar Mahal, Charminar, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ or Writs, order or Direction , declaring the action of the ﬁrst respondent in not preventing encroachments and in not taking up development of parks, library, community hall and other recreational facilities as per the Layout Plan of Housing Scheme in Sy.Nos. 69, 70, 71 & 79 of Bahadurpura, Hyderabad, as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Art. 48(A) of Constitution of India and to consequently direct the Respondents to forthwith remove all the encroachments and to maintain & develop the property as per the layout plan or in the alternative hand over the open spaces meant for parks etc,. to the members of the petitioner association for the purpose of protecting the same; Award costs and Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI K.RAGHUVEER REDDY Counsel for the Respondents : SRI J.PRABHAKAR FOR R2 The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.17580 of 2003 ORDER: Bahadurpura Welfare Association ﬁled the instant writ petition seeking, inter alia, a direction to the respondents, namely, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) and the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (APHB), to remove all encroachments in the layout of APHB where Housing Board Colony was developed. This Court heard learned Counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and learned Standing Counsel for APHB. A perusal of layout plan of Bahadurpura Housing Scheme would show that a playground and community hall are earmarked and meant for the use of the people. Therefore, the respondents cannot ignore the complaint of the petitioner or residents of Housing Board Colony and allow the encroachments to continue. The competent authority must initiate necessary action immediately. It is brought to the notice of this Court that APHB has handed over developed roads and other common facilities to MCH in 1980 and 1981. Therefore, under Section 36(1) of the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board Act, 1956, the streets and roads vest in MCH (now GHMC), and therefore, they alone have the duty to remove the encroachments. In this connection, the orders passed by this Court in a taken up writ petition, being W.P.No.15188 of 2006, on 27.09.2006 may be extracted for the benefit of all. The authorities, who are guardians of public property, were expected to prevent encroachments and take steps for removal of encroachments from the areas earmarked as public parks and open places for public recreation. Unfortunately, all the concerned authorities and agencies have miserably failed to act in accordance with law resulting in serious injury to the larger public interest and the people in general have been deprived of the use of public parks. In order to remedy the situation, we, as an interim measure, direct Hyderabad Urban Development Authority, and all the municipal corporations in the State of Andhra Pradesh to immediately take steps to erect barbed wire fencing for protecting all the areas and places earmarked for public parks and public recreation. 2) Similar steps shall be taken by all the municipalities in the State of Andhra Pradesh for protecting areas earmarked for public parks and public recreation. Necessary direction in this regard shall be issued by Secretary, Municipal Administration Department within a period of seven days from today. 3) Hyderabad Urban Development Authority and all municipal bodies in the State of Andhra Pradesh should initiate steps for vacating unauthorized occupation/encroachment of the lands, which were earmarked for public parks or for public recreation. Notices be issued to the encroachers and unauthorized occupants. They be given reasonable opportunity to defend themselves against the proposed removal of unauthorized encroachments/occupations of municipal lands/public lands and necessary orders be passed in accordance with law. The ﬁrst respondent i.e., GHMC is, therefore, directed to take necessary action and remove encroachments immediately. The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. _____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 15.10.2008 vs To 1 The Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad. 2 The Vice Chairman & Housing Commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Housing Board, Gruhakalpa, M.J. Road, Hyderabad. 3 The Deputy Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, Sardar Mahal, Charminar, Hyderabad. 4 2CCs to 5 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{ANURADHA}