HYDERABAD: Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Telangana government, launched a scathing attack on the petitioners in a batch of writ petitions challenging the report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Kaleshwaram irrigation project.
Arguing before the Chief Justice bench of the Telangana High Court, Singhvi termed the construction of the Annaram, Sundilla and Medigadda barrages a “complete scam,” alleging that specific recommendations of an Expert Committee advising against construction of the Medigadda barrage were deliberately ignored by then CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and T Harish Rao who was irrigation minister at the time.
He contended that no mandatory approvals were obtained for the project, initially estimated at `80,000 crore, and that as per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, the cost is projected to reach `1,47,427 crore upon completion.
He further submitted that the Congress government, upon assuming office in 2024, discovered that the state was burdened with debts of `87,449 crore incurred by the erstwhile BRS regime, resulting in heavy interest liabilities.
Referring to the report of the Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (retired) P C Ghose, Singhvi described it as a “painstaking” exercise. He argued that the petitioners, KCR, Harish Rao, SK Joshi (IAS retired) and Smita Sabharwal (IAS), had appeared before the Commission and did not deny the Expert Committee’s adverse recommendations.
According to him, they had admitted that entrusting preparation of DPRs to VAPCOS was a decision taken by KCR and Harish Rao, but were now contending that they were not issued notice under Sections 8B and 8C of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
The writ petitions seek to restrain the state from acting upon the Commission’s report dated July 31, 2025. The matter was adjourned to Tuesday for further arguments by Advocate General A Sudershan Reddy and senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy for the state.