HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed former chief secretary Shailendra Kumar Joshi to file an affidavit disclosing the source from which he obtained the Justice PC Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram project.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G M Mohiuddin had earlier, on August 22, ordered the state government not to make the report public and to remove it from its website if it had already been uploaded. The directive followed a petition filed by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao.
Referring to its earlier order, the bench questioned Joshi on how he had obtained the document. Chief Justice Singh observed: “The petitioner may be an affected person, but he must have a proper way to get the Commission report. You explain from where you got this report and, by way of an affidavit, inform this court.”
Senior counsel Avinash Desai, representing Joshi, argued that the Commission had issued summons to his client under Section 5 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act without giving him a chance to defend himself. However, the court noted inconsistencies in Joshi’s statements, as he had at different times claimed the report was given to him on August 30, circulated by the government, uploaded online, or handed over by a legislator after being tabled in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, the government pleader attached to the Advocate General’s office informed the court that the report had not been uploaded on the government’s website.
The matter was adjourned to September 10, 2025.