The Hindu : Front Page : Apex court refuses to restrain State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 06, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Apex court refuses to restrain State

J. Venkatesan

Notification on constitution of Greater Hyderabad

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to restrain the State Government from issuing a notification to constitute Greater Hyderabad. The Bench of Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice V.S. Sirpurkar declined to pass any order on a special leave petition filed by Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, against a judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissing his petition on January 31. The Bench granted two weeks' time to the petitioner to furnish additional documents and details in support of his claim.

Senior counsel Ramachandra Rao, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that as per the Government's policy decision, 12 municipalities contiguous to Hyderabad city limits were to be added to Hyderabad city. A Government Order was issued on July 20, 2005, for this purpose.

He said that such inclusion could not be done by an executive order. The Government could do it only by amending the Presidential Order.

He said that the `local area' of Hyderabad city could not be changed, as the Presidential Order would prevail over all other laws. He contended that the High Court had dismissed the petition without considering all these aspects.

Appearing for Andhra Pradesh, senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina strongly opposed the submission and said the Presidential Order had nothing to do with inclusion of 12 municipalities. He said the proposal was pending since 2005 because of the stay granted by the High Court.

On the petitioner's plea for an interim injunction against issuing notification, he said "the petitioner has stopped development of Hyderabad for two years. As the High Court has dismissed the petition we will issue the notification and it will be subject to your (apex court) order."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page