HYDERABAD: Wondering why authorities are mum when even park spaces are being occupied, the Telangana

on Friday directed the principal secretaries of municipal administration, and panchayat raj departments, along with HMDA commissioner, Sanga Reddy district collector and Madhavapuri Hills temple committee president to appear before the court on February 26.

The bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A

was hearing a PIL filed by Thakur Rajkumar Singh of Human Rights and

cell trust, challenging the inaction of the authorities in protecting a two-acre park land at Madhavapuri Hills colony in Ameenpur area of Sanga Reddy district.

Refusing to agree with the temple committee, which said that they occupied the park land for a good cause like building a temple, and that they have no objection even if the temple is taken over by the endowments department, the bench said that an

is still an encroachment and an illegal construction needs to be razed regardless of the intentions of its builders.

“There are three crore Gods in India, if encroachments are allowed in the name of God, then there would be no space left for any other public purposes,” the bench said. The Supreme Court had made it clear that no constructions should be allowed in spaces meant for raising parks, the bench said brushing aside the temple committee’s arguments on two GOs issued by the state in 2018.

Since the temple was built in park land, it needs to be demolished, the bench said. Otherwise, we will direct the temple committee to pay Rs 5 crore as costs, the bench said.

This is Lord Venkateswara temple, and when the temple committee contended that the deity too has rights that are required to be defended, the bench earlier directed the petitioner to make the deity a party to the case. The petitioner accordingly filed an affidavit making Lord Balaji as respondent to the case.