The Telangana High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the central and state governments in a writ petition challenging the three-dimensionality of the erstwhile Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, alleging that it is in violation of the Census 2027 circular issued by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
The Additional Solicitor General of India, appearing for the Census Commissioner and the Union Home Ministry, along with the Advocate General representing the state government, sought three weeks’ time to file counter-affidavits. Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, who heard the plea, gave one week’s time to respond to the counter-affidavits.
Petitioner D. Guruva Reddy, a businessman, challenged the OC Ms. No. 55 by which the State Government carved out two new Municipal Corporations from the existing GHMC by merging some of the surrounding municipalities, contending that it was in violation of the provisions of the Census Act, 1948-read with the Census Rules-1990. According to the petitioner, the Census Commissioner in the notification dated June 16, 2025 declared March 1, 2027 as the census reference date.
In another notification issued by the home ministry, it was directed to complete the house census operations between April 1 and September 30, 2026. The Union government also said that the Directorate of Census Operations was required to send all jurisdictional changes by July 1, 2025. The trifurcation of the GHMC was against the rules prescribed for the census, the petitioner alleged
Published – 19 Feb 2026 20:51 IST