HYDERABAD: In a relief to the Telangana government, the Supreme Court on Monday was not inclined to hear the petition filed seeking stay of works pertaining to the mammoth Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project. It, however, granted liberty to the petitioner to approach appropriate High Court on his plea.
The apex court bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta disposed of the petition filed by D Laxminarayana, convener of Telangana Engineers Forum, seeking constitution of an experts committee to study whether the so many reservoirs being built by the Telangana government under Kaleshwaram project were required or not.
When the matter came up for hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi raised an objection to the plea, saying that some of them were trying to obstruct the project works citing one reason or the other. Several petitions were filed earlier against the project works, he added.
Petitioner’s counsel Sanjay Parikh asked if the government filed a caveat petition on the issue and urged the court to grant stay of the project works. There is no need to have ‘so many’ reservoirs at the cost of public exchequer. A committee of experts should be constituted and alternatives examined in the interest of the state, he said.
The bench then asked the petitioner’s counsel why he had approached the Supreme Court instead of the High Court on the issue. In reply, the petitioner said that it was an inter-state issue involving Telangana and Maharashtra and urged the court to hear the case as the project was being built to store more water than was required.
Making it clear that it was not inclined to hear the matter under Article 32 of the Constitution, the bench granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the appropriate High Court. In the event of any notice issued to Maharashtra on the issue and if he faces any problem, he could then approach the apex court, the bench said and disposed of the case.
‘Plea dismissal a slap in the face of Congress’
Reacting to the dismissal by the SC, Harish Rao said the wicked forces had no other work than filing cases in the Supreme Court against the construction of irrigation projects in Telangana. Though the courts were dismissing their petitions, the Congress leaders were not ashamed of their work, he remarked. “The Congress is making all-out efforts with the sole aim that the TRS government should not get any mileage from the construction of irrigation projects,” he said. The Congress swindled `2,500 crore by giving mobilisation advances to irrigation contractors during their ten-year rule, Rao alleged. “We are proceeding as per the directions of the Central Water Commission while constructing the irrigation projects. Congress leaders should stop conspiracies against projects, he said.