Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court imposed Rs 10,000 in costs on a builder, who approached the court by distorting facts about his illegal construction.
Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar reiterated that it is trite law that a person invoking the extraordinary equitable jurisdiction of the court under Article 226 of the Constitution has to approach with clean hands.
The judge was dealing with a petition filed by Mumidyala Prashanth Bhaskar from Narsingi, Hyderabad, who said that the GHMC had issued speaking orders directing him to remove the unauthorised construction and deviations within 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice, without issuing the show-cause notice or calling for explanation. He alleged that the order was illegal.
Gadipally Malla Reddy, counsel for the Narsingi municipality, placed before the court a copy of the show-cause notice dated August 1, which was served on the petitioner on August 2 under acknowledgement. The petitioner contended that the copy had not been served on him and argued that the authorities might have fabricated the copy.
The court verified the signature affixed by the petitioner on the vakalat paper with the one on the notice acknowledgement and found them to be similar.
