Hyderabad:Former IAS officer Shailendra Kumar Joshi, then-irrigation secretary and chief secretary in the BRS government, has filed a writ petition in the Telangana High Court, seeking a direction to suspend the operation of the Justice P.C. Ghose commission of inquiry report in the Kaleshwaram scheme irregularities, and the summary of a presentation made by the government. Joshi also sought a stay on all further proceedings and the adverse findings recorded against him.
The petitioner contended that Justice Ghose commission only served summons and no notice was issued to him directing him to appear before it. He said his spontaneous replies were reduced into an affidavit and marked as evidence and that he was not given a chance to cross-examine on specific allegations made against him by the commission. He was aggrieved by what he said was the action of the commission in recording stigmatic observations against him.
During the question-and-answer session during the inquiry, no specific allegation or imputation was levelled against him, the petitioner contended. He was never confronted with any charge or suggestion of wrongdoing and at no point of time was he given notice that he would be accused of having played an “improper role in re-engineering and approvals, “failing to ensure KIPCL project packages were taken up as turnkey,” or of “participating in financial and technical decisions in violation of Business Rules.”
The petitioner contended that the stigmatic findings were never conveyed in advance nor was he given any opportunity to rebut them.
Joshi served as an IAS officer in AP and Telangana from 1984 till his retirement on 31-12-2019 and said he had his duties with utmost integrity and devotion for more than three and a half decades and held some of the most sensitive and high offices in both the Union and the state governments, including his elevation as Telangana Chief Secretary.
The petitioner contended that government had taken a decision to forward the Justice Ghose commission report to the CBI for further inquiry, which was untenable. He sought a direction to suspend the operation of the commission report.
CM Gets HC Relief In Criminal Case
Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court on Tuesday dispensed with the appearance of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy before the trial court in a criminal case filed in 2021 on charges of conducting a rally without approval from the police. The court directed the state and the complainant, the Saifabad sub-inspector, to respond to the notices by September 7.
Revanth Reddy approached the High Court seeking direction to quash the proceedings against him. Revanth Reddy was charged. along othersenior Congress leaders, of organisnig rally which proceeded from Old Secretariat to Raj Bhavan in 2021 demanding repeal of the farm laws passed by the Centre and rollback of the petrol and diesel prices, without taking police permission.
In a separate case, the High Court dispensed with the appearance of BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao before the trial court in a criminal case lodged against him on the complaint of Soodhini Srujan.
According to the complainant, Rama Rao had levelled allegations that Srujan was a close relative of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy because of which the state government had allotted a tender to him. Further, Rama Rao had met the Union housing minister in New Delhi and gave a representation alleging that works to the tune of `1,137 crore was allotted to Shodha Constructions Pvt. Ltd, which had declared meagre profit of `2.02 crore for 2021-22, and made similar claims.
