Hyderabad: In a major setback to Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, the state high court has ordered the removal and replacement of senior bureaucrat A.V. Ranganath as commissioner of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) in the wake of allegations that he disrespected the court’s orders. Ranganath is an IPS officer holding the inspector-general rank.HYDRAA functions directly under the municipal administration and urban development department – which is part of the basket of portfolios held by Revanth Reddy – and is considered a key cog in the chief minister’s pet project of protecting water bodies in and around Hyderabad from encroachment.The court issued the order to chief secretary Sanjay Jaju on Monday (July 27) while hearing a contempt plea against HYDRAA filed by a construction firm. While passing the order, Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti instructed the state government to ensure compliance and appoint a new officer to head HYDRAA.Monday’s proceedings were significant in view of HYDRAA’s repeated violations of judicial directions in the past as it resorted to coercive actions in protecting public property. After having consistently reined in the agency, the court noted that there were 63 contempt cases pending against Ranganath as head of HYDRAA.The court has heard multiple pleas challenging demolition orders that HYDRAA has issued since its creation in July 2024 on the grounds that the structures in question were unauthorised or were made by encroaching upon the ‘full tank level’ of a waterbody or the notified ‘buffer zone’ around it.In the latest instance, a dispute over a 40-acre property claimed by Shanta Sriram Constructions had become controversial after the firm alleged that HYDRAA officials entered the land a few days ago with nearly 50 vehicles and about 200 personnel to demolish tin structures on it, saying the property belonged to the government. Containers, chairs, tables and office furniture were damaged in the process, it was alleged.The high court ordered the deployment of armed forces to protect the property on July 23. The order was subsequently kept in abeyance till the next day after advocate general Sudarshan Reddy informed the court that the government would file an affidavit stating that HYDRAA officials did not enter the land.Nonetheless, the court on July 24 directed Ranganath to submit an affidavit containing an apology and an explanation regarding his alleged interference in the land dispute.On July 27, the high court held that it was not satisfied with Ranganath’s affidavit as it did not contain his apology for contempt of court after the construction company highlighted a court order confirming the land in its favour.When the counsel representing HYDRAA informed the court that a petition challenging the firm’s version would be filed shortly instead, the court took serious objection to his submission and pointed out that it had granted Ranganath time till July 27 to file an affidavit containing an apology. Subsequently, the court directed the chief secretary to remove Ranganath as HYDRAA commissioner.The company had informed the court earlier that both a civil court and a division bench of the high court had decided the ownership of the land in its favour.On that occasion Justice Jukanti orally said that Ranganath has “become a law unto himself, suddenly becomes an all-pervading authority and interferes with the administration of justice and does not comply with the orders of the court”. He called HYDRAA’s actions “unprecedented and unheard of in the history of the high court”.He also observed that other government agencies were approaching HYDRAA for the resolution of their disputes. “Why are revenue, irrigation and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) approaching him [Ranganath]? Have they become toothless? It has become regular for him to flout orders and he is espousing everybody’s cause with a single order [of HYDRAA], bypassing all authorities and departments,” Justice Jukanti said.The judge added then that HYDRAA officials should realise they are not extra-constitutional authorities. “If these acts are let go of, then there would be no rule of law and the majesty of the court would be at peril. There would be a mockery of court orders,” the judge added.Monday’s order gives strength to repeated criticism against HYDRAA that it has become sidetracked from its goals. Specifically, the agency is accused of selectively targeting private properties. Though the high court has come down heavily on the agency several times, critics say neither the state government nor the chief minister have paid heed to this.HYDRAA came into existence via a government order to work in Telangana’s ‘Core Urban Region’, which includes the GHMC’s jurisdiction as well as parts of the Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy districts, spanning an area of over 2,000 square kilometres extending up to Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road.It has a police station to register cases and take steps to prosecute those encroaching on government land. However, it has found itself on the wrong side of law on several occasions by interfering with private property rights protected under Article 300A of the Constitution.Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy has consistently defended his pet project HYDRAA, including by controversially invoking Hitler, Iran and Israel. Photo: PTI.Not HYDRAA’s first run-in with the high courtIn April, the high court had compared one of HYDRAA’s demolitions to the creation of a “war-like situation” that “cannot be countenanced”. The petitioner in the case claimed the structure concerned was a farmhouse built under a sanctioned plan, but the government alleged it was an unauthorised structure constructed on its property.The court in March had held Ranganath guilty of contempt for wilfully disobeying its order of June last year, and sought the removal of structures and signages erected by the agency on seven acres of land forming part of Bathukammakunta, a water body restored by the agency in Hyderabad’s Amberpet neighbourhood.The high court also pulled up HYDRAA after it pulled down structures of the Sandhya convention centre in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli in an early morning operation last year without orders. The court also imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on the agency for putting up fencing of a private property in the city’s Mallapur area.Hearing a batch of contempt cases against HYDRAA, the court had admonished Ranganath while hearing petitions alleging that the agency violated status quo orders in carrying out work near the Tammidikunta tank in Hyderabad’s Khanamet. “Authority is not given for showing power … If you want to show your power, then the court has superior power,” the bench had said in November.Ranganath defends HYDRAA’s operations; opposition welcomes court orderIn a release after Monday’s court order, Ranganath said he had worked within the constitutional framework in the last two years and taken steps to protect government land, parks and tanks worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Encroachments on them were restored to the government, he said.In the present case, he alleged that Shanta Sriram Construction wanted to knock off government land worth Rs 10,000 crore by swapping sites. He accused the firm of encroaching upon 120 acres of government land instead of occupying a permitted site three kilometres away, adding to deem the 63 contempt cases against him as being foisted by ‘land grabbers’.The court’s direction was welcomed by the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the BJP. BRS general secretary R.S. Praveen Kumar said the judgment was an indictment of the chief minister given that he holds the municipal administration and urban development portfolio. Revanth Reddy lost the moral right to head the government, said Praveen Kumar, adding that Ranganath was fortunate as the court spared him from arrest.BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao demanded that the government abolish HYDRAA, calling it a platform for its highhandedness under the guise of removing illegal constructions and accusing it of spreading terror among the general public.Congress MP for Bhongir C. Kiran Kumar Reddy however said that Ranganath’s ouster was a conspiracy of the ‘land mafia’ as he had effectively checked its operations. The mafia did not want the Congress to become popular because of Ranganath’s initiatives, he claimed.