HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday granted interim relief to former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and former Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao in the petitions challenging the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram project.
The Court directed that no action shall be taken based on the Commission’s report until the next hearing.
The Division Bench, led by Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, clarified that while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will conduct an independent probe into the Kaleshwaram project, the inquiry must not rely on the findings of the Ghose Commission report.
The Court recorded the assurance given by the Advocate General (AG) that the government has not taken, nor will take, any steps based on the report until further orders.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that it was contradictory for the government to State that no action was taken on the report while simultaneously allowing CBI investigation.
They requested that the Court explicitly restrain the authorities from using the report in any manner until the case is finally decided.
In response, the AG contended that the interim applications filed by the petitioners were not maintainable. He clarified that:
The CBI inquiry was not ordered on the basis of the Ghose Commission’s findings.
The Commission did not recommend handing over the case to CBI and that was a government decision.
The report has only been tabled in the Assembly and discussed; no further action has been initiated.
The CBI investigation is not directed at individuals like KCR or Harish Rao but is focused solely on the Kaleshwaram project, particularly the collapse of five piers, and aims to determine responsibility for structural failures.
The Bench adjourned the matter to October 7, 2025, stating that counters and replies will be heard in detail before passing a comprehensive judgment.
