Telangana high court orders GHMC to display building permits at construction sites | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Telangana high court has ordered the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to make the display of building permissions mandatory at construction sites, including exempted smaller plots. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed the direction recently and directed the civic body to inspect ongoing projects in the Siddamber Bazaar and Begum Bazaar circles, halt any unauthorised work and file a compliance report before the court.Calling the misuse of self-certification a “disturbing trend,” the court ordered the sealing of a ground-plus-five-floor structure in Siddamber Bazaar that was constructed without valid permissions, in blatant violation of municipal building laws. The judge passed the directions while hearing a plea filed by Raj Kumar, a businessman from Siddamber Bazaar, who approached the court alleging inaction by the GHMC on his applications seeking regularisation of additional floors in a building.The petitioner had sought regularisation of the structure under Sections 455-A and 455-AA of the GHMC Act. Opposing the petition, the GHMC told the court that the petitioner’s applications for building permissions had been rejected due to deficiencies and violations. Despite show-cause notices and a speaking order dated Aug 5, construction continued, it said.The GHMC further argued that although the petitioner claimed ownership of 114.14 square yards of land, he had sought permission for only 43.29 square metres in his own name, while the remaining portions were split among three other parties to allegedly avail of the ₹1 token-fee provision under the Telangana Building Permission Approval and Self-Certification System Act, 2020. The provision applies to plots measuring less than 75 square yards. According to GHMC, the arrangement was intended to evade mandatory setback norms.The court noted that the petition was untenable, as only ground+2 floors are permissible on a plot of that size as per the rules, and no vested right accrues merely from filing a regularisation application while a civil suit over the property remained pending without any interim protection.