Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by former minister and senior politician Nagam Janardhan Reddy seeking a CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, stating that it saw no reason to interfere with the Telangana High Court’s previous decision.
A bench comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma heard the matter and ruled that it could not intervene in the High Court’s orders, which had earlier dismissed five similar petitions related to the project.
Representing Nagam, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that a major fraud had occurred in the execution of the project, resulting in a reported loss of ₹2,426 crore to the state exchequer. He pointed to a deviation from the official cost-sharing structure approved by the government, which mandated that 65% of the payments be made to BHEL for supplying pumps and motors, and 35% to Megha Engineering for civil works.
However, Bhushan alleged that internal arrangements reversed this ratio, reducing BHEL’s share to 20% and inflating Megha’s share to 80%, thus indicating large-scale corruption.
Countering these allegations, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Megha Engineering, argued that the Telangana High Court had already ruled out any wrongdoing and dismissed all related petitions. He also pointed out that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had found no irregularities, and that BHEL itself had not lodged any complaint.
Rohatgi criticised the petitioner for selectively using documents to cast doubt on the project, which he claimed is fully operational and functioning effectively.
The apex court’s rejection effectively upholds the Telangana High Court’s view that there is no prima facie case for fraud in the project’s execution.
