In direct violation of a Telangana High Court order, clearance continues at the disputed 400-acre Kancha Gachibowli land, University of Hyderabad Student Union President Umesh Ambedkar has confirmed to EdexLive, saying, “They have NOT stopped!”
Students are actively documenting the defiance of the court order, sharing videos on social media platforms with timestamps clearly showing that clearance activities continued uninterrupted after the high court's directive was issued. These videos provide irrefutable evidence that despite the judicial order, deforestation operations have not stopped.
The High Court bench, consisting of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara, had explicitly directed during today's hearing that "the levelling of trees in the land be stopped till tomorrow". The case hearing resumes on April 3.
The court order came after hearing arguments on two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by climate activist Kalapala Babu Rao and environmental body Vata Foundation, which challenge the State Government's deforestation activities and seek to designate the ecologically significant area as "forest land."
Despite the Advocate General's oral assurance to the court that deforestation would halt until tomorrow's hearing at 2.15 pm, Umesh Ambedkar's confirmation and the timestamped video evidence shared by students reveal that clearing activities continue unabated, raising serious questions about compliance with judicial orders in what environmental activists are calling a critical ecological battleground.
