Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Thursday recalled its earlier status quo order in a case involving the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust, founded by AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, after being informed that a related matter was already pending before a coordinate bench of the court.Justice B Vijaysen Reddy had on July 6 granted status quo on a challenge to a GHMC demolition notice. However, after learning that a similar issue was being heard by Justice NV Shravan Kumar, the judge withdrew the interim protection on grounds of judicial propriety and discipline.“Maybe I would not have passed the direction if I had been informed of the detailed order of the coordinate bench,” the judge observed, noting that the pendency of the related matter had not been brought to his notice earlier.The development came after advocate Vijay Gopal, who is a petitioner in the connected case pending before Justice Shravan Kumar, sought to implead himself in the trust matter. He informed the court that the trust had allegedly not disclosed the pendency of the related proceedings before another bench. He further contended that the educational institutions run by the trust were located within Salkam Cheruvu limits at Bandlagud.Taking note of the submissions, Justice Vijaysen Reddy questioned why the GHMC had not informed the court about the connected proceedings. Counsel for the trust objected to Vijay Gopal’s submissions. Additional advocate general Imran Khan, appearing for the state, also opposed the arguments, contending that Vijay Gopal had no locus standi in the matter.Observing that it would be inappropriate to continue with parallel proceedings that could result in conflicting orders, the judge declined to examine the merits of the allegations.“As it may conflict with the coordinate bench orders, without going into the merits of allegations made by Vijay Gopal, as a matter of propriety, the status quo order is recalled,” the judge said.The court directed that the matter be listed along with the connected case pending before the coordinate bench.
