‘63 contempt cases’: Telangana High Court orders removal of powerful state govt agency chief

HYDRAA, which is tasked with preventing the “unauthorised takeover of government land” and has a police station attached to it, is considered one of the key initiatives of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

The order to replace Ranganath as HYDRAA chief came amid a long-drawn standoff between the court and the agency.

On July 24, the Telangana High Court had observed that it was not satisfied with the affidavit that Ranganath filed in response to a case filed by Shanta Ram Constructions Pvt Ltd. The affidavit did not have an apology for the contempt of court, Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti had observed. In the case, the construction company alleged that HYDRAA was “illegally interfering” in its 40 acres despite a court order in its favour.

‘Law unto himself’

The court had observed that Ranganath “has become a law unto himself, suddenly becomes an all-pervading authority and interferes with the administration of justice and does not comply with the orders of the court.” The court called HYDRAA’s actions “unprecedented and unheard of in the history of the high court”. On the same day, the judge ordered Ranganath to file a detailed affidavit apologising for violating court orders and giving an assurance that HYDRAA would not enter the disputed property again.

The court had observed that other government agencies were approaching HYDRAA for resolution of their disputes. “Why are revenue, irrigation, GHMC approaching him (Ranganath)? Have they become toothless? It has become regular for him to flout orders and he is espousing everybody’s cause with a single order (of HYDRAA), bypassing all authorities and departments,” Justice Anil Kumar said.

The judge added then that HYDRAA should realise that they are not extra-constitutional authorities. “If these acts are let go, then there would be no rule of law and the majesty of the court would be at peril. There would be a mockery of court orders,” the judge added.

HYDRAA is facing many contempt cases over allegations of unlawfully demolishing structures. The current dispute started with the company, Shanta Ram Constructions Pvt Ltd, telling the court that both a civil court and a division bench of the High Court had decided an ownership dispute in its favour.