SC Dismisses Petition On Palamuru-Rangareddy Project

The Supreme Court (SC) today dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by former minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy, which alleged financial irregularities in the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS).

The apex bench, headed by Justice B V Nagarathna and comprising Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, dismissed the SLP stating that there were no merits to interfere with the Telangana High Court's order.

The High Court had earlier dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Reddy on December 3, 2018.

In making its ruling, the SC bench observed that four other cases filed by Reddy relating to the same project before the High Court had been either dismissed or disposed of, and were fully closed, with no appeals pending. It also noted that the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), while addressing the complaint filed by Reddy on this issue, had given a clear finding that the allegations were unsubstantiated.

The bench asked senior counsel Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for Reddy, how a prayer to declare the revision of rates as fraudulent could be sought before the High Court in a Writ Petition. Responding, Bhushan urged the bench to disregard that part of the prayer and focus on the second part, which sought a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the alleged fraud.

Justice Nagarathna said that any revision of rates or ratios could be an exercise of the State's commercial wisdom, and asked how the courts could direct the CBI to investigate. She added that the courts could not monitor every action of the State.

Senior counsel and former Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), raised objections regarding the maintainability of the SLP. He informed the court that Reddy had been filing successive cases for the past 10 years before the High Court, the CVC and others, and that all that amounted to harassment. He also spoke of the CVC's findings on Reddy's complaint.

After hearing detailed submissions from both sides, the Supreme Court bench pronounced its order dismissing the SLP. It said that granting the prayers of the petitioners was at the discretion of the High Court, which had already recorded its reasons for not directing the CBI to investigate the matter. "We find that the High Court was justified in declining to refer the case to the CBI," the apex court said.