Telangana High Court seeks status of Ghose Commission report on Kaleshwaram

The Telangana HC has asked the State government to clarify whether it has acted on the PC Ghose Commission report or kept it pending. The query follows Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s midnight announcement to transfer the Kaleshwaram case to the CBI

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday sought to know from the State government whether it had already acted upon the PC Ghose Commission report, or was in the process of taking a decision, or had kept the matter pending. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohinuddin directed the State government to respond by Tuesday.

Former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao had approached the High Court seeking a stay on the transfer of the Kaleshwaram project case to the CBI. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had announced in the Assembly the transfer of inquiry to CBI.

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Senior advocates Aryama Sundaram and Dama Shesadri Naidu told the court that the State, despite giving an undertaking that no further action shall be taken on the Ghose Commission report without putting it for discussion before the court, had violated the undertaking. The Chief Minister announced around 1 am in the Assembly the State’s decision to transfer the case to CBI, the counsels said. There was every possibility of the State issuing a GO on the case, if the court does not take up an urgent motion on the issue.

It may be recalled earlier petitions were filed challenging the Ghose Commission report as it violated mandatory procedures under the Commission and Enquiries Act. However, taking into consideration the undertaking of the State that they would not take any action without putting the report before the legislative house, the court opined no orders were required.

On Saturday, applications were filed seeking stay of action on the Commission report until the court decides the matter. Unable to get a house motion for urgent hearing on holidays, the senior advocates sought urgent hearing of the matter on Monday at 10.30 am. The CM unilaterally announced the decision well past midnight. The court then wanted to know about the status of the action.

However, the State government advocate stated the difficulty of the AG in appearing and requested the court to take up the case next week. The court, refusing the request, directed the State to respond by Tuesday on its query.