Amendment to GHMC Act to empower HYDRAA

Telangana Ordinance empowers HYDRAA to protect public assets, restricts authority to GHMC, with potential jurisdiction expansion.

A recently published Ordinance effecting an amendment to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955, enables the government to assign the powers of the the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation or its Commissioner to any officer or agency or authority in order to protect public assets.

Approval of the Ordinance by the Governor is perceived as an effort on part of the government to clear the legal hurdles for the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) which is entrusted with the responsibility of protection of lakes and government lands in and around the State capital.

The Telangana Ordinance No. 4 of 2024 published in the Telangana Gazette on October 3, inserts a Section 374B, which stipulates that the government can empower any officer/agency/authority to exercise the powers vested with the corporation/the commissioner for protection of public assets such as roads, drains, public streets, water bodies, open spaces and public parks and preserve them from illegal encroachments.

The government sought to justify the amendment by saying unforeseen contingencies and disasters necessitated the requirement of specialised agencies whose services can be roped in by GHMC to strategise and implement effective resilient systems for natural calamities and disasters.

While the Ordinance legally accords enforcement powers to HYDRAA with regard to GHMC Act, it also restricts its authority to GHMC alone. As per the government order constituting HYDRAA, the authority’s jurisdiction includes area under GHMC and all urban and rural local bodies up to the Outer Ring Road. The government may be specifically include or exclude areas from HYDRAA’s purview from time to time as per the orders.

Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 already has provisions for the government or the municipal commissioner to empower district level task force/agency towards enforcement with regard to removal of unauthorised structures.

As per the sources, a government order has already been issued empowering the HYDRAA to take action in the urban local bodies too. However, the same is not available in public domain.