HYDERABAD: IN what has come as a major relief to the Telangana government, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a special leave petition filed against its flagship Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.
The bench, comprising Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Navin Sinha, dismissed the petition filed by Md Hayath Uddin challenging the verdict of the Hyderabad High Court which set aside the order of the National Green Tribunal and permitted the State government to continue works on the project.
The petitioners counsel submitted that the project was being implemented in violation of environmental guidelines, and that environmental clearance for the project was granted in a hurried manner. However, the bench pointed out that there was a delay on the petitioner’s side in approaching the court. “One should approach the court within six months of commencement of any project. But in the present case, the petitioner approached the court only after eight years,” the bench observed.
Besides, the court pointed out that the petitioner had approached the NGT in Delhi instead of Chennai. “It appears that there was some motive behind filing the petition and the petitioner resorted to forum hunting,” the bench said while dismissing the SLP saying it was not maintainable. Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, who was present in the court hall, expressed satisfaction with the outcome. He informed the outcome to the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao over phone.
Harish Rao slams Cong
Harish Rao criticised the Congress for trying to create obstacles to the project by filing cases with the Tribunal and Supreme Court. The KLIS project has been designed to lift about 180 TMC of water (2 TMC a day) from Godavari at Medigadda point