Kaleshwaram Commission: Telangana HC bars govt from taking action against KCR

Hyderabad: In a huge relief to former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and former Minister T. Harish Rao, the Telangana High Court barred the state government from taking any action against them and two other petitioners on the basis of the report of the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission which enquired into alleged irregularities in the execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.

The High Court observed that the Ghose Commission did not follow the procedure under the Commission of Inquiry Act.

A Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin on Wednesday pronounced the orders on the batch of writ petitions filed separately by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President, K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), Harish Rao, retired IAS officer and former Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi and serving IAS officer Smitha Sabharwal, challenging the report.

The petitioners had sought a direction to set aside and quash the report of the Commission.

The petitioners had also challenged the constitution of the Commission, but the court held that the government has the power to constitute the Commission. However, the court found that the findings of the Commission can’t be a basis for action against any of the petitioners, a lawyer said.

During the hearing, counsels for the four petitioners rebutted the findings of the Commission and contended that their clients were not served the mandatory notices under Section 8B and 8C of the Commission of Inquiry Act.

After hearing the arguments on the petitions, the court had reserved its orders last month. The orders were to be pronounced on April 8, but the same were postponed to April 22.

The Bench directed the government not to initiate any coercive action against all four petitioners based on the findings of the Ghose Commission report.

Supreme Court senior counsel Dama Sheshadri Naidu had argued for KCR, while Advocate General A. Sudershan Reddy and senior counsel S. Niranjan Reddy had appeared for the state government and the Ghose Commission, respectively.

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), said to be the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project, was started by the then BRS government in May 2016. Its main component was inaugurated by the then CM KCR in 2019.

In March 2024, the Congress government constituted a commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose to probe alleged irregularities in planning, design, construction, quality control, operation and maintenance of Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla Barrages of the Kaleshwaram project.

The commission submitted its report to the Telangana government on July 31, 2025.

The Commission held KCR directly and vicariously accountable for irregularities in planning, execution, completion, operation and maintenance of the Kaleshwaram project. It also indicted Harish Rao, then Chief Secretary Joshi and then Secretary to Chief Minister Smitha Sabharwal.

IANS