HYDERABAD: In an interim relief to former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday restrained the state government from taking any action against them till further orders in the case relating to alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project based on the Ghose Commission's report.
The court restrained the government from taking the action while adjourning the hearing till October 7.
The bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin directed the government not to take action against the petitioners based on the report of the P.C. Ghose Commission, which probed the alleged irregularities in the construction of the project during Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule.
The State government on Monday decided to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had announced this in the Assembly in the early hours of Monday after a marathon debate on the Ghose Commission report.
K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and Harish Rao, who had last month filed the petitions seeking orders to quash the report of the Ghose Commission, pressed for an early hearing in view of the government's decision.
Supreme Court senior counsels Aryama Sundaram and Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Harish Rao and KCR respectively, sought directions to the government not to take any coercive steps against the petitioners.
Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy submitted to the bench that the government has ordered the CBI probe based on the report of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA). He clarified that there is no link between the Ghose Commission and the CBI report.
The Advocate General held that the petitions of KCR and Harish Rao were not maintainable.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the Court restrained the government from taking any action against the petitioners based on the Ghose Commission report and adjourned the hearing till October 7.
During the hearing on August 22, the State government had told the court that no action would be taken against the petitioners before tabling and discussing the Commission's report on the floor of the Assembly.