In a significant legal victory for Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and senior leader T. Harish Rao, the Telangana High Court has ruled that no punitive action can be taken against them based on the findings of the PC Ghose Commission.
The division bench, while upholding the legality of the commission’s formation, declared its findings against the petitioners “inoperative” due to a failure to adhere to the principles of natural justice and statutory safeguards.
The case reached the High Court after KCR, former Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao, and several others filed a batch of petitions challenging the report submitted by the commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice P.C. Ghose. The commission was tasked with investigating alleged irregularities in the execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) during the BRS administration.
The commission’s report, which was tabled in the State Assembly in August last year, held the former Chief Minister and Harish Rao accountable for various aspects of the project’s construction. Following the report’s submission, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had announced the state government’s intention to hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin focused heavily on the procedural conduct of the inquiry.
The court observed that the findings rendered by the Commission were prejudicial to the reputation and conduct of the petitioners. Crucially, the bench noted that the commission had violated Section 8B of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. This statutory provision mandates that if a person’s reputation is likely to be prejudicially affected by an inquiry, they must be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard and to produce evidence in their defense.
“…the findings rendered by the Commission as are prejudicial to the conduct and reputation of the petitioners and have been rendered in violation of principles of natural justice and the statutory safeguard provided under section 8B of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 shall be inoperative and no action can be taken on the basis there,” the court stated in its order.
Despite granting relief to the individual petitioners, the High Court clarified that the initial decision to constitute the PC Ghose Commission was legally sound. The bench dismissed arguments that the setup of the probe was arbitrary or illegal, confirming that the state government acted within its powers and the framework of the Constitution.
The Kaleshwaram project, often described as the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation scheme, has been under intense scrutiny since the change of government in Telangana. The commission’s report specifically found fault with the role of KCR, Harish Rao, and several high-ranking officials in the construction of barrages and other infrastructure components.
The High Court’s ruling effectively stalls any immediate administrative or criminal action that the state government intended to pursue based solely on the Justice Ghose report’s conclusions regarding the petitioners.
