HC declines interim stay on Kaleshwaram report

The Telangana High Court on Friday declined to issue a stay order on the report by retired justice P C Ghose on the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Dam project following a plea from former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to quash it.

However, the court directed the government to take down the report if it had been uploaded online. It also issued a notice to the government to file a detailed counter-affidavit within four weeks.

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Two separate petitions were filed by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the then irrigation minister T Harish Rao seeking to quash the probe report, which had castigated both in its findings.

The HC’s division bench, comprising chief justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin decided against granting an interim stay order after the state government clarified that it would act only after tabling the PC Ghose commission’s findings in the state Assembly, where it will be debated. The court directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit on the issues raised by the petitioners.

In their pleas, the former chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao and ex-irrigation minister, T Harish Rao, had sought the suspension of any action on the report until their main writ petition was disposed of by the court. KCR, as the former chief minister is popularly known, has alleged that the Commission violated the provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act, pointing out various procedural errors.

The one-man judicial commission headed by retired Supreme Court Judge PC Ghosh had submitted its report to the government on 31 July. The Commission’s tenure was enhanced by two months by the state government to allow it time to summon the former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, former irrigation minister T Harish Rao and former finance minister Etela Rajender for deposition.

The petitioners also complained that the state government had held a PowerPoint presentation on the findings of the commission, which had indicted KCR and Harish Rao for various irregularities, particularly over shifting the location of the barrage, disregarding the recommendations of experts.