AP High Court block is illegal

HYDERABAD: Even as the AP High Court is set to reopen from Wednesday after a fire gutted two of its floors early Monday, it has come to light

that the seven-storied administrative block that was constructed a decade ago adjacent to the heritage building still does not have building permission from the GHMC. It has also not been given the mandatory no objection certificate (NOC) by the fire services department. The administrative block, however, was not affected by the Monday morning’s fire.

The fire services department gives the NOC only after the building has put in place all the mandatory fire safety equipment and measures. The heritage wing of the court - that was affected by the fire - does not require any fire department clearance. Only high rises constructed after 1982 require the clearance.

That the administrative block of the high court does not have building permission nor fire safety measures came to light in 2006 when the erstwhile MCH submitted to the high court a list of 17 government high-rise buildings that were constructed illegally and did not have the NOC from the fire department. The matter came up when the high court was hearing a case on the high-rise buildings that do not have fire safety norms following a report in the TOI.

Apart from the administrative block of the high court, among the other unauthorised structures that figured in the list were the Director General of Police's office at Lakdi-ka-Pul, the Hyderabad police commissioner building at Basheerbagh, the Rangareddy district collectorate, Paryatak Bhavan at Begumpet and Aranya Bhavan at Saifabad.

However, in the last three years many in this list like Paryatak Bhavan and Aranya Bhavan secured building permission from the GHMC. But neither the high court administrative block nor the DGP's office did so. "In the last three years since it was known that the HC's administrative block was illegal, neither the roads & buildings department (which constructed it) nor the HC (occupants) applied for permission," a GHMC official said. Sources said when this fact came to light during the court hearing, then chief justice G S Singhvi remarked,: "If that is the case, the GHMC can tear down the structure without seeking prior permission from the high court."

Source: Times of India