HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday refused to grant relief to YSRC MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju and two others in a batch of writ appeals challenging single judge orders but allowed them the liberty to approach the review committee within three weeks from the date of receipt of the order.
The trio had filed an appeal against the order of a single judge dated October 12, 2022, dismissing their petitions. In their petition, the trio had said that they were members of the suspended Board of Directors of M/s. Ind Bharath Power (Madras) Limited, a company that received financial assistance amounting to Rs 2,655 crore for the development of a thermal project in Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu. However, Rs 947.71 crore of this loan amount was allegedly misutilised to meet the liabilities of other group companies.
A show-cause notice dated January 9, 2019, was issued to them. Following this, the trio filed writ petitions, which were dismissed on September 12, 2019, with the condition that further proceedings would be kept in abeyance until the conclusion of criminal proceedings. However, REC Limited, the respondent authority, was granted permission to proceed if there was undue delay in concluding the criminal proceedings.
The authorities issued a notice on November 25, 2019, seeking responses from the appellants to the show-cause notice. The appellants requested certain documents, which were provided to them. Subsequently, the first-level committee convened on June 8, 2022, and June 14, 2022, determining that there was a delay in concluding the criminal proceedings. As a result, the committee found the appellants to be willful defaulters, a decision communicated to them on June 16, 2022.
The appellants challenged the validity of this order in the writ petitions, which were dismissed by a single judge on October 12, 2022, leading to the filing of the present appeals.