Hyderabad: Former irrigation minister and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao on Wednesday told Telangana high court that the constitution of the Justice PC Ghose Commission to probe alleged lapses in the Kaleshwaram project was flawed from the outset and throughout its proceedings.Arguing before a bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, his counsel CA Sundaram contended that the commission merely endorsed the state govt’s assertions instead of conducting an independent fact-finding exercise as required under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. Seeking to quash the report in its entirety as illegal, unconstitutional and unsustainable in law, Sundaram said: “Throw it away. If there needs to be an inquiry, let there be. If CBI has to inquire, let it do and find out.” He argued that the commission itself was improperly constituted, alleging that the govt had already concluded there was negligence, operational lapses, lack of quality control and other malpractices, and then tasked the commission only with fixing responsibility rather than determining whether such failures actually occurred. “Since the commission, instead of being a fact-finding body, acted like an adjudicating authority, its report proprio vigore has no strength (proprio vigore means by its own strength),” added Sundaram. ‘Tainted report’According to him, the inquiry did not begin on a clean slate but was based on the govt’s prima facie conclusions, effectively directing the commission to validate those findings. He alleged the report was tainted by legal bias and pre-determined conclusions, and urged the court either to set aside the entire report or to quash the findings against Harish Rao and bar their use against him. After Sundaram concluded his submissions, the court posted the matter for further hearing on Friday, when it will hear former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, former IAS officer SK Joshi and senior IAS officer Smita Sabharwal, who have also challenged the commission’s report holding them responsible for alleged irregularities in the project.
