HC pulls up GHMC over parking

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday pulled up the commissioner of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Mr S.P. Singh, for converting road margins into parking places in the city and the inaction of his officials in taking action against illegal and unauthorised constructions.
Justice N.V. Ramana, dealing with three petitions filed separately on the issues of parking places, unauthorised constructions and the listing of parking places in the city, found fault with Mr S.P. Singh for failure of the GHMC in easing traffic congestion in the city.
The judge passed interim orders on the petitions filed on the issues. In a petition, the judge directed the commissioner, Mr S.P. Singh, to personally visit and inspect the parking lots to verify whether they are functioning properly to ease traffic congestion in the areas, enabling people to move freely or whether they are causing more traffic jams and congestion.
The court asked the four advocates Mr Y. Rama Rao, Mr R. Mahender Reddy, Mr K. Ramesh Babu and Mr C. Vasantha Rayudu sitting in the court hall to select some places out of a list of places identified by the commissioner to enable him to inspect those places.
In another case, the judge did not accept the version of the standing counsel of the GHMC that it was the duty of the traffic police to regulate the traffic.
The judge said: “I am unable to accept the stand of the GHMC, for, on the one hand, the corporation itself is converting the road margins into parking areas resulting in traffic congestion and on the other hand, it is passing its responsibility onto the traffic police.”
The court felt: “It seems coordination between the city traffic police and the corporation is necessary. The court said that it is fit to hear the stand of the government also in the matter. The court impleaded the principal secretary of municipal administration and the commissioner of police (traffic) suo motu to adjudicate the issue. In another case the court directed the GHMC to dispose of the complaints received about illegal and unauthorised constructions within a time frame.

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