Relief for KCR, Harish Rao as Telangana High Court rules 'no action' on Kaleshwaram Commission report

Hyderabad: In a major relief to BRS supremo and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his nephew, former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, the Telangana High Court on Wednesday ruled that no action shall be taken against them based on the Justice PC Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.

The court termed the commission's findings as prejudicial to the petitioners.

The division bench, headed by Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, delivered the verdict on Wednesday on a batch of writ petitions filed by KCR, Harish Rao, IAS officer, Smita Sabharwal, and former Chief Secretary SK Joshi.

The bench upheld the validity of the commission's constitution under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, through GO Ms. No. 6 dated March 14, 2024, ruling that it was neither arbitrary, illegal, nor unconstitutional.

However, it declared that the commission's findings prejudicial to the petitioners were rendered in violation of the principles of natural justice and the statutory safeguards under Section 8B of the same Act, and shall therefore remain inoperative. Consequently, no action can be taken against KCR or the other petitioners on the basis of the report.

Section 8B of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 mandates that if, at any stage of an inquiry, the commission considers it necessary to examine the conduct of any person or believes that a person's reputation is likely to be adversely affected it must provide that person a reasonable opportunity to be heard and to present evidence in their defence. The High Court found that the Ghose Commission had violated this provision while making adverse findings against KCR and the other petitioners.

The Justice PC Ghose Commission was constituted on March 14, 2024, to probe alleged irregularities in the planning, design, and execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. It submitted its 665-page report to the state government on July 31, 2025, holding KCR responsible for serious lapses in the project's execution.

The report flagged irregularities from the conceptualisation stage, including the alleged suppression of expert committee reports that had advised against the project. It also highlighted significant cost escalations with estimates rising from Rs 38,500 crore to over Rs 1.10 lakh crore and attributed structural damage to the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages to flawed planning and defective design.

The verdict immediately triggered political reactions across party lines. BRS Working President K Tarak Rama Rao (KTR) described it as a resounding "slap on the face" for the Congress government and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, accusing them of waging a vendetta against what he called Telangana's lifeline project.

He argued that the ruling reaffirmed that courts would not remain silent when constitutional and legal norms are violated. KTR also claimed vindication for the BRS's long-standing position that the commission was not truly a PC Ghose Commission but effectively a PCC Pradesh Congress Committee report driven by political motives.

Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao was equally critical of the Congress government, stating that the High Court's intervention had exposed its faulty, misleading, and negligent conduct. He argued that a careful reading of the court's observations made clear that the stay was not an isolated development, but the direct consequence of serious procedural lapses and the government's failure to follow due process and established norms throughout the inquiry.