Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday sought responses from the Centre and the State government in a petition challenging the GHMC Reorganisation carried out through GO No. 55.
GHMC Reorganisation faces judicial review
The State recently issued GO No. 55 and split the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation into three bodies. The order created a restructured GHMC, Cyberabad Municipal Corporation and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation.
Daram Gurava Reddy moved the High Court and questioned the legality of the GHMC Reorganisation. He argued that the government acted during a jurisdictional freeze linked to the 2027 Census.
According to the petitioner, authorities cannot change municipal limits or reorganise local bodies once a census freeze comes into force. He claimed that any such step becomes invalid from the outset.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe heard the matter. Counsel for the petitioner, Rajkumar Gummi, told the court that the government lacked authority to issue GO No. 55 during the freeze period. He requested the court to quash the order.
After preliminary hearing, the Bench directed both governments to file their counters within three weeks. The court will list the case again after it receives the responses.
Census freeze guidelines cited in plea
The petition referred to a Gazette notification from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs that fixed the schedule for the next Census. As per the notification, authorities will begin enumeration in Himalayan regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, from October 1, 2026.
Officials will launch the second phase across the rest of the country from March 1, 2027. The Centre also clarified that states must not alter district, division, mandal or village revenue boundaries until March 31, 2027.
Earlier guidelines required states to complete any such changes before December 31, 2025. However, the State issued GO No. 55 on February 11, 2026 and implemented the GHMC Reorganisation.
The High Court will now examine whether the government could proceed with the GHMC Reorganisation despite the census-related restrictions.