HC orders HYDRAA to remove signboard from residential plot

The Telangana High Court held that HYDRAA's act of erecting a board declaring the property to be the agency's own land was illegal.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to remove within 24 hours a signboard it had put up on a residential plot in Sahebnagar Kalan, Hayathnagar, holding that the agency’s action appeared, at this preliminary stage, to go against an earlier order passed by the court.

The court also restrained HYDRAA and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) from interfering with the owners’ possession of the property without following due legal process.

Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed the interim order while hearing a petition filed by T Jhansi Rani and T Ajay, who claim ownership and possession of plot no 40, measuring 160 square yards, in Survey no 68 at Officers Colony, Sahebnagar Kalan. The petitioners challenged HYDRAA’s move to erect a board on the property, claiming it as government land, alleging that officials interfered with their peaceful possession despite an earlier High Court ruling in their favour.

They told the court that HYDRAA had neither issued them a notice nor conducted any inquiry before claiming the land belonged to the government, and said the building on the plot had been constructed strictly as per a sanctioned building plan.

What led to the High Court order

The petitioners had earlier challenged the GHMC’s revocation of their building permission on November 19, 2024, along with a demolition notice issued by HYDRAA on December 13, 2024. In a common order dated March 2, 2026, the High Court had set aside both the revocation and the demolition notice. At the same time, the court had made clear that authorities remained free to take appropriate legal action if they later found that the construction stood on public land or amounted to encroachment.

The petitioners’ counsel argued that, without following the required procedure, HYDRAA officials forcibly entered the property and put up the board.

Justice Vijaysen Reddy held that, prima facie, HYDRAA’s act of erecting a board declaring the property to be the agency’s own land was illegal, unsustainable and contrary to the High Court’s earlier common order on the matter, prompting the direction that the board be taken down within a day and that the authorities not interfere with the owners’ possession without due process.