Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the competent authority of the National Monuments Authority (director of heritage, Telangana), to issue permission or no-objection certificate within four weeks to a private real estate company to construct residential houses in the regulated area of the Golconda fort but outside the prohibited zone.After securing the NOC, the builder will have to get municipal permissions.The land abuts the prohibited zone outside the outer wall of the fort which is a national monument as declared by the Union culture ministry. Any construction in and around a national monument is subject to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and rules.The real estate company approached the High Court complaining that the authority was not permitting construction work in the land of 14 acres and 16 guntas in Survey No.s 250, 251, 252P, 253 and 255 of Quila Mohammednagar, Golconda, i.e., beginning from the limit of prohibited area and extending to a distance of 200 metres.It contended that, despite, the recommendation of the National Monuments Authority (NMA) represented by the member secretary, department of culture, in 2019, under for construction work, the competent authority in the state was not permitting the work and was sitting on the recommendations of the NMA.Senior counsel Avinash Desai, representing the real estate company, argued that the competent authority should abide by the decision taken by the NMA, and has no other option. He submitted that the follow-through action was a ministerial act which the competent authority must take in consonance with the timeline provided in the 1958 Act.One Mohammed Azam Khan filed a PIL challenging the construction, objecting to the permission given to the company. He contended that permission could not be granted for construction as the Quli Qutub Shahi tombs, a heritage monument, was situated in the vicinity.The court faulted the competent authority and Azam Khan and said that permission was granted under the 1958 Act and intervention by a private person was against the statutory provisions.The court noted that the Quli Qutub Shahi tombs is a state-protected monument i.e., under the state government, and fells under The Telangana Heritage (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Maintenance) Act, 2017. The fort, on the other hand, is a national monument under the 1958 Act.The court concluded that permission granted by the NMA had to be followed by the competent authority and directed it to grant permission within one month from the receipt of the intimation.
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