Urgent Hearing in HC: KCR, Harish Rao challenge handover Kaleshwaram case to CBI
Hyderabad: Former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) and former Minister T. Harish Rao's counsel seek an urgent hearing in the matter, urging a stay on the government's decision to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday.
The petitions, heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin, seek an urgent stay on any action based on the report dated July 31, 2025. The matter has been posted for further hearing on Tuesday.
It is pertinent to note that on 19 August 2025, KCR and Harish Rao have filed writ petitions in the Telangana High Court, challenging the legality of the Justice Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram project.
Through their counsels, the petitioners argued that the commission was constituted illegally. They seek a writ of Mandamus to declare G.O. Ms. No. 6, dated March 14, 2024, which appointed the commission, as ‘illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, and ultra vires’ to the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
The petitions further demand the quashing of the commission's report, alleging it contains "prejudicial, illegal, high-handed, scurrilous, defamatory and scathing observations" against them. The core legal argument is that these findings were made without providing the mandatory notices under Sections 8B and 8C of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, thus violating principles of natural justice and adversely affecting their reputation.
The petitioners also challenged the government's action of publicly disseminating the report's contents through a press conference and PowerPoint presentation on August 4, 2025, without furnishing them a copy, calling it ‘manifestly arbitrary, illegal, mala fide, biased, and premeditated.’
They have urged the court to suspend the operation of the report and restrain the government from acting upon its findings until the court finally decides the writ petition.
In the order on 22 August, the court has directed the state government to file a detailed counter-affidavit to the allegations within four weeks. The petitioners will then have one week to file a rejoinder. The matter has been listed for 7 October 2025 for further hearing.
However, as the Telangana Assembly decided to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the petitioner knocked on the doors of the Telangana High Court seeking an urgent hearing in the matter, urging a stay on the government decision to hand over the probe to the central agency.
In a fiery press conference at Gun Park on Sunday, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former Minister T. Harish Rao launched a vehement attack on the Congress government, dismissing the Justice Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram project as ‘trash’ and accusing the ruling party of stifling democratic debate in the Legislative Assembly.
Rao’s outburst comes after a marathon assembly session that extended past midnight and over nine hours of discussion on Kaleshwaram, where the government, based on the commission's findings, decided to hand over the investigation into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
