Hyderabad, May 30 -- The Telangana High Court on Friday, May 29, held Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) guilty of contempt of court for its demolitions in Kukatpally and directed it to restore the land to its previous state within 24 hours.

If the agency failed to do so, the petitioner was allowed to carry out the work, and all expenses would be extracted from HYDRAA officials' personal funds.

The court also heavily censured HYDRAA, stating its conduct represents a recurring modus operandi of "demolish first, fence and fix boards next, and seek justification thereafter, treating the orders of the court as an inconvenience to be circumvented rather than as a command to be obeyed."

The petitioner had pointe...