Telangana HC Fiat No Hurdle to KLIS Probe

Hyderabad: The state government on Tuesday formally conveyed its decision to entrust investigation into the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS) irregularities to the Central Bureau of Investigation, and is confident that the Telangana High Court’s directive of "no adverse action" against former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and former minister T. Harish Rao would not come in the way of the premier investigation agency initiating the probe.

The High Court took note of the state referring “the matter relating to the irregularities in construction and execution” of the Kaleshwaram scheme to the CBI on the basis of the reports submitted by the National Dam Safety Authority and other agencies.

“The court did not explicitly put on hold the CBI probe and only said no adverse action should be taken, that too based on the findings of the Justice P.C. Ghose commission of inquiry,” a senior minister told Deccan Chronicle. Now it is up to the Centre to exhibit its keenness to investigate perhaps what is the largest scam in the country and bring the culprits to justice, he added.

State home department officials handed over a copy of the government order, issued by Ravi Gupta, special chief secretary, home, to local CBI officials. The GO was issued to accord permission to the investigating agency to take up the probe against several politicians and bureaucrats including Chandrasekhar Rao and Harish Rao. Ironically, it was Chandrashekar Rao who had earlier made it mandatory for the government to allow the CBI to initiate inquiries involving state matters.

Apparently keeping in view the ongoing case in the High Court challenging the Justice Ghose panel report on a petition filed by Chandrashekar Rao and Harish Rao, the state played it safe while specifying the grounds for ordering the CBI probe.

The government cited the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) report and the outcome of the debate in the state Assembly on KLIS, as grounds for the CBI inquiry, besides the findings of the panel report.

The GO said it was found in the NDSA reports that the failure of the Medigadda barrage was due to a combination of issues including planning, designing and construction deficiencies due to a lack of stringent quality control. It said the Ghose panel in its report had identified several lapses that warranted serious criminal action. The Assembly undertook a short discussion on the subject and it was noted that the findings and observations made by NDSA and the P.C. commission warranted a detailed investigation.

“In view of the NDSA report, findings of the Commission of Inquiry (headed by Justice Ghose) and the decision taken in the Assembly in the matter of construction of Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages of the KLIS and sinking of piers resulting in huge financial loss to the state exchequer, the state government has decided to entrust the investigation into the matter to CBI,” said Gupta in the orders.