Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Restoration of heritage buildings: official summoned

Legal Correspondent

Court action following letter by architect complaining about demolition of heritage structures

HYDERABAD: A Division Bench of the High Court on Wednesday directed the Director of Archaeology to be present in the court on Friday to assist it on the issue of restoration of heritage buildings in the old premises of Gandhi Medical College, Basheerbagh.

These were demolished by the builder who got the contract for a new proposed shopping mall.

The Bench was dealing with a taken up case wherein a letter written by an architect, Vinod Kumar, was treated as a writ petition.

Mr Kumar complained that the heritage structures were being demolished by builders without any norms. It may be recalled that there were two notified heritage buildings in the said complex.

The rules require that when such buildings are sought to be demolished or altered the Heritage Committee of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has to be consulted and then the Vice Chairman has to take a final decision. On an earlier occasion when there were large-scale demolitions near Charminar area some citizens of Hyderabad belonging to the Forum for Better Hyderabad had approached the court and the Division Bench of the court had declared that the consultation with the Heritage Committee was a must.

Though the G-block of the Secretariat was not in the heritage list, the court had directed the Government not to demolish it.

In this background, the current case is being adjudicated. On Wednesday, the counsel and judges were of the opinion that the heritage structures have to be protected.

The Bench sought the presence of the Director of Archaeology to see that the buildings were restored with the department's expertise.

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