High Court Initiates Suo Motu PIL Against 'Deteriorating Conditions' Of Hyderabad's Duragam Cheruvu Lake

The Telangana High Court has taken serious note of the degrading state of one of Hyderabad's iconic lakes, the Duragam Cheruvu Lake.

The court has initiated sou motu proceedings against the deteriorating conditions of the Durgam Cheruvu lake following an article published in the Time of India English Daily Newspaper captioned “Durgam Cheruvu chokes on sewage. Will Hyderabad rescue its iconic lake?”

When the proceedings were taken up today, the officials of the Irrigation Department/Municipality informed the Bench that a sewage pipe had broken and leaked into the lake, but assured the Court that measures were being taken to repair the broken pipe by the sewage and irrigation department and sought for an adjournment.

This was not taken well by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti.

“We know what you will do, you will file a report saying there is no encroachment and no action is required. Immediately you have taken corrective action.. don't want the Court to take cognizance. We are surprised at the way you are trying to defend. It's a public cause. The approach has to be different. Do your officers have the guts to take action? Tell us. Please sit down. Don't object to everything. We have not even said anything yet. You are not capable of defending the interest of the people of Hyderabad. You are so eager to defend the officer, you should have welcomed this and come up with suggestions. In every case, you file a status report and say everything is okay. Something out of the box needs to be done.”

The Bench appointed Senior Counsel Vedula Srinivas as the amicus curie in the matter and requested the senior counsel to suggest names of 'independent individuals who cannot be influenced' for the constitution of an expert body.

The bench directed that the names suggested must contain one noted environmentalist, one individual from a Central NGO, and if required, a senior counsel from the State. “As an amicus, you must suggest a committee whose integrity is beyond question. Fortunately, we have some people because of who the system is running.”

The matter is posted to the 22^nd for the suggestions of the amicus.

The Durgam Cheruvu Lake, as the article rightly points out is one of Hyderabad's most iconic lakes and is located in the middle of the most upcoming commercial areas of Jubilee Hills and Madhapur. In recent years, the area around the lake has been developed into a park and serves as an oasis for various flora and fauna and humans alike, amongst the busy city life.

The article that was published on 12^th December, stated that the cable bridge and dazzling lights had been set up to mask the collapsing condition of the lake. It stated that hundreds of fish in the lake were found floating on the surface of the lake gasping for air and subsequently were spotted floating around lifeless. This incident had several residents and environmentalists around Hyderabad concerned. The article suspected that sewage waste was being disposed into the lake, causing the water conditions to fall and in turn making it inhabitable for the fish.

SUOMOTUWP(PIL) 10 of 2023