Hyderabad, Oct 1 (IANS): In another setback to the Telangana government, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed it not to demolish State Secretariat till further orders.

The court asked the government not to take any action with regard to its plans to demolish the buildings till October 14, when the petitions challenging the proposed demolition will come up for hearing after Dasara holidays.

The court passed the interim orders on a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging the government's decision to demolish the existing buildings of state Secretariat and build a new complex.

As the government on Monday completed the process of shifting all offices from the existing premises, the petitioners voiced their apprehension that the government may carry out the demolition during Dasara holidays for the court, beginning Wednesday. They sought direction to restrain the government from demolishing the buildings.

Rachna Reddy, counsel for one of the petitioners, told reporters that the court asked the government not to take any action till October 14 when the PILs will come up for hearing.

The petitioners argued that construction of a new building will unnecessarily burden the public exchequer as the existing buildings are in a good condition and can continue to serve the purpose.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on June 27 had laid foundation stone for construction of new buildings for state secretariat and Assembly.

While the new Secretariat complex is proposed to be built at a cost of Rs 400 crore by demolishing existing structures near Hussain Sagar lake, the Assembly building was to come up at cost of Rs 100 crore by razing Errum Manzil, a heritage building.

The High Court on September 16 barred the government from demolishing Errum Manzil. The orders were passed on a batch of PILs challenging the government's move.