HYDERABAD, Sept 10: The Hyderabad Railway Employees Cooperative Society has criticized the Taluka Municipal Administration, Latifabad, for demolishing a portion of its super society market office on Tuesday evening.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Wednesday, the chairman of the society, Matloob Ahmad Khan, general-secretary Mobin Rajput, vice-chairman Lala Bostan Khan and other office-bearers said Latifabad taluka management officer Zafar Baig Mughal, accompanied by some other people, arrived at the super society market, situated on the Auto Bhan Road, with heavy machinery, caught hold of watchmen, ransacked the second storey and demolished a portion of the office.

They termed the action illegal.

They said the land was allotted to the society in 1978 by the then president and added that they were in possession of legal documents in this regard. They said the TMA did not possess any documents to establish its ownership.

They said the municipal administration had also illegally occupied 16.10 acres of the Latifabad settlement town.

They said the property of the society should not be demolished as the case was pending in the relevant court of law.

They appealed to the government to stop the TMA from taking illegal actions and demanded that the DPO should register an FIR against the taluka administration.

Answering a question, they said the society had purchased the land from the railway department for Rs3.3 million and paid Rs2.2 million to the Hyderabad Development Authority as external development charges.

Meanwhile, the Taluka Municipal Administration, said construction was being raised on the land although the matter was pending in the court.

Latifabad Taluka Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan told Dawn that builders of the market had not obtained no-objection certificate from the TMA.