HC seeks Telangana govt’s response after KCR, Harish raise objections on Kaleshwaram report

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court asked the State government if it is going to act on the PC Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram Project now or after it is placed before the Telangana State Legislative Assembly. The court asked the government to respond to the queries submitted by KCR and Harish Rao on the conduct of the investigation.

The hearing in the case was adjourned to August 22 (Friday).

What is the case about?

The HC Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Moinuddin, was acting on writ petitions filed by former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and former minister T Harish Rao, seeking a direction to the Telangana Government not to act upon the report on the Kaleshwaram Project.

The report, dated July 31, was submitted to the government by Pinaki Chandra Ghose, former Judge, Supreme Court of India.

KCR and Harish Rao seek suspension of the report

Aryama Sundaram, senior counsel appearing for T Harish Rao, sought suspension of the report because Harish Rao was not issued with a notice under Section 8B of the Commission of Enquiry Act. Rather, he was only issued a summons, and he was not given an opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses, who were examined by the PC Ghose Commission.

“On August 5, chief minister A Revanth Reddy held a press conference and gave a PowerPoint presentation on the commission report. The report was given to the newspapers, and even some TV channels live telecast it, and this cannot be refuted,” the senior counsel said.

The report was downloaded from the government website, as the petitioner was not served with a copy of the report, the court was told.

State counsel refutes the petitioner’s claims

Refuting the contention of the senior counsel, advocate general Sudershan Reddy said that the report, which is 650 pages (approx.), was never uploaded on any website, rather the Telangana government appointed a three-member expert committee to study the report and prepare a concise 60-page report for the Cabinet committee, discussion and approval on the floor of the Legislative Assembly.

“KCR and Harish Rao are members of the Assembly, and they can very well attend the Assembly Session and participate in the discussion on the PC Ghose Commission report,” the AG said.

Petitioners were informed with notices, says AG

The AG further stressed his contention that the petitioners were issued notices directing them to respond, and Harish Rao, after receiving the notice, had made a representation to the commission seeking some reports, which were furnished to him.

The AG sought dismissal of both writ petitions.

‘Report levied serious allegations without giving KCR a chance to respond’

Sheshadri Naidu, former Judge of the Mumbai High Court and presently senior counsel practising in the Supreme Court, arguing for KCR, contended that the Commission of Inquiry on the Kaleshwaram Project has conducted a judicial inquiry, which is a final report, requiring no further investigation.

“Such an inquiry report can be enforced immediately and action can be initiated against KCR at any time as the commission has levelled serious allegations of embezzlement of crores of rupees, mismanagement and spending crores of rupees of public money by the KCR government on construction of the three barrages: Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla,” KCR’s counsel said.

The commission held KCR responsible for mismanagement, manipulation of the estimates in construction, which are serious allegations, without allowing him to put his contention before the commission.

‘KCR not given a chance to cross-examine witnesses’

When the commission has levelled such serious allegations against KCR and given findings against him without allowing him to explain, it cannot hold KCR responsible for the alleged irregularities, the counsel said.

Further, the senior counsel contended that the Ghose Commission examined 119 witnesses, and KCR was not given a chance to cross-examine those witnesses.

After hearing the contentions of both senior counsels and the AG, Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh asked the AG to get instructions from the government as to whether the report was released officially and whether it was telecast publicly.

The court also asked the government to respond to the claims that the notice was not sent before making the report public, and report on the stage of the analysis of the report and whether it has been laid before the Telangana State Legislative Assembly or not.

The hearing was adjourned to Friday.