Hyderabad: In a relief to former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, the Telangana High Court has ruled that no action shall be taken against them based on the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
The high court observed that the constitution of the Commission is neither arbitrary nor illegal. However, the observations made in the Commission’s report shall remain inoperative, and no action shall be taken based on its findings.
The writ petitions challenging the report were filed by KCR, Harish Rao, former chief secretary Shailendra Kumar Joshi (retd.), and senior IAS officer Smita Sabharwal. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin had reserved its judgment on March 12, initially scheduling the verdict for April 8 before postponing it to April 22.
The Justice P.C. Ghose Commission was constituted by the Telangana government on March 14, 2024, to probe alleged irregularities in the planning, design, and execution of the Kaleshwaram project.
The commission submitted its 665-page report to the state government on July 31, 2025, where it held former Chandrasekhar Rao responsible for serious lapses in the project’s execution. The commission also highlighted rank irregularity from the conceptualisation stage, including the intentional suppression of expert committee reports that advised against the project.
The report also identified abnormal cost escalations, with project estimates rising from ₹38,500 crore to over ₹1.10 lakh crore. It also alleged that flawed planning and defective designs were primary causes for structural damage at the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages.
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