In a ruling, the Telangana High Court declined to grant interim relief in a batch of petitions contesting the establishment of the Kothagudem Municipal Corporation. The court’s decision came after hearing arguments from both parties regarding the merger of Kothagudem and Paloncha municipalities.
The petitioners, social worker Potru Praveen Kumar and electrician Azmeera Naresh, residents of Palvancha, had contested the constitutionality of Government Order (GO) Ms. No. 177 and Act No. 17 of 2025, which upgraded the area into a municipal corporation. They alleged that the formation violated provisions applicable to Scheduled Areas, specifically citing the inclusion of seven tribal gram panchayats in the corporation.
The petitioners argued that these villages fall within a Scheduled Area notified under the Presidential Order of 1950, and that mandatory constitutional safeguards were disregarded during the formation process. However, the state government disputed these claims in counter-affidavits presented to the court.
After assessing the arguments from both sides, Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin concluded that the petitioners had not provided sufficient evidence to establish that the villages in question are indeed part of a Scheduled Area as defined by the Presidential Order of 1950. In the absence of such proof, the court determined that no compelling case was made for interim relief and adjourned the matter until February 2026.
The petitioners’ contention revolves around the inclusion of tribal gram panchayats within the Kothagudem Municipal Corporation, which they argue should not have occurred due to the unique constitutional safeguards applicable to Scheduled Areas. The court will now consider their arguments further in subsequent hearings.
