The Telangana High Court on Monday extended the interim protection order earlier granted to former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, T. Harish Rao, former Chief Secretary Shailendra Kumar Joshi and IAS officer Smitha Sabharwal on a number of grounds linked to the findings of the Justice PC Ghose Commission on alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project.
A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin adjourned the hearing to February 25 after hearing the submissions of senior lawyers representing the four petitioners. The four petitioners filed separate petitions in the HC seeking a stay on the operation of the Commission’s report, after which the HC directed the government not to take any adverse action against them in the matter.
The state government set up a commission of inquiry headed by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, a former Supreme Court judge, to probe the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme during the then BRS-led government. The Commission submitted its report on 31 July 2025 and made specific observations against the four petitioners. While SK Joshi was the Chief Secretary, Smitha Sabharwal was then the Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office.
Senior High Court lawyers Aryama Sundaram, Dama Sheshadri Naidu and J. Ramchandra Rao, former Additional Advocate General of Telangana HC, argued on behalf of the petitioners. Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy informed the bench that the government had filed counter affidavits in the writ petitions while the petitioners had replied to the same. He was looking for time to answer the answers.
Published – 19 Jan 2026 20:52 IST
