High Court Upset With The Government Again

The Telangana High Court today passed strictures against the state government's "kneejerk" response to the problems surrounding the upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

The court said that the government did not appear interested in addressing the problems related to the festival.

A division bench of the High Court headed by the acting Chief Justice Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar made these remarks while hearing a petition filed by an advocate by name Mamidi Venu Madhav urging it to ban the immersion of Ganesh idols in the Hussain Sagar lake.

While responding to the petition, the HC had recently asked the state government to provide its suggestions on the organization of the festival.

However, various departments of the state government did not submit their reports on time, and this angered the HC.

Referring to the submission of the reports by some departments ten minutes before the hearing of the case, it division bench expressed its displeasure at the last minute compliance, and asked if even the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police did not have the time or the resources to submit a report in an issue as important as that.

Responding to the observations made by the HC, the counsel for the state government said that the government had made arrangements for immersion in 48 lakes and tanks of the GHMC.

He also told the HC that the government was encouraging the usage of clay Ganesh idols by the people of the state capital to prevent the pollution of the environment, and that the government had decided to give 1 lakh clay Ganesh idols free of cost.

The High Court reserved its orders on the petition.