Hyderabad: Working through loopholes in the system, a few builders, especially in the IT corridor, are constructing apartments while at the same time approaching courts for stay or injunction orders against notices issued by civic bodies. There are hundreds of such structures across Gachibowli, Kondapur, Madhapur, Nanakramguda, Khajaguda and Gowlidoddi — which are under the GHMC — and in Manikonda and Puppa-laguda, that are under the panchayat raj.
Between 2007 and 2013, builders went to court against notices by panchayat raj in Manikonda and Puppalguda. The panchayat raj department failed to file effective counters in nine cases. As per the rules, the local gram panchayat can issue approvals up to G+3. But many multi-storey buildings have come up in the gram panchayats.
On October 20, 2012, the then Manikonda Jagir panchayat secretary K. Mohan Rao wrote to Raidurgam cops seeking a criminal case against an ex-sarpanch and a bill collector for issuing fabricated G+3 building approvals for six builders by forging his signature. He also submitted the fake receipts. But then a vigilance report last April, on illegal structures at Manikonda and Puppalaguda by the then director general for vigilance and enforcement T.P. Das, was put in cold storage by the government, which led to the construction of 500 more illegal apartments. Mr Das said a total of 244 apartments were constructed without any official approval.
