The Telangana high court on Saturday did not take up for hearing the petition filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao seeking direction to the state government not to table the report of Justice PC Ghose Commission on the alleged irregularities in Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, people familiar with the matter said.
Along with KCR, former state irrigation minister T Harish Rao also filed a separate house motion petition before the high court on Saturday. Both the petitioners wanted that even if a discussion takes place in the assembly, the government should be directed not to initiate any coercive action against them.
“Both the petitions were referred to the high court registry, which were numbered and might be taken up on Monday,” an official in the law department said.
On August 21, KCR and Harish Rao filed separate writ petitions seeking to quash the Ghose Commission’s report that indicted them over alleged irregularities in execution of Kaleshwaram project.
On August 22, a bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, after hearing contentions of the petitioners and the government counsels for two consecutive days, refused to pass interim orders to quash the commission report.
Advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy told the court that the government would take further action only after discussion over the report on the floor of the assembly. The matter is posted for further hearing in October.
{{/usCountry}}Advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy told the court that the government would take further action only after discussion over the report on the floor of the assembly. The matter is posted for further hearing in October.
{{/usCountry}}Legal expert and former central information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu Madabhushi said it was the discretion of the speaker to hold the discussion on any subject even on Sundays.
“There were precedents of even Parliament functioning on Sundays to discuss important matters. Perhaps that is the reason why the high court did not entertain the petitions of KCR and Harish Rao to stall the debate in the assembly,” Madabhushi said.
Meanwhile, the state government also refused to entertain the demand of Harish Rao that the BRS should be given a chance to make a power point presentation in the assembly explaining the party stand on Kaleshwaram project.
State legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu said there was no precedence of the opposition making power point presentations in the assembly. “Even when the BRS was in power, it never gave such an opportunity to the Congress,” he said.
Harish Rao said the government stand clearly showed that it was afraid that the BRS would disclose the factual position on Kaleshwaram. “It is not up to the ministers or the Congress party to decide whether any wrongdoing occurred — that responsibility lies with the courts and the people,” he said.