New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a plea by former Telangana minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy seeking a direction for a CBI probe into the alleged fraud over estimates of electromechanical equipment meant for the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project.
The project aims to supply clean, potable water to the upland areas of Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Nagarkurnool, Vikarabad, and Narayanpet Districts.
The matter was heard by a bench comprising justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has partnered with Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) for the irrigation project.
The bench said it was not keen to interfere with the decision of the Telangana High Court, which declined to entertain Reddy's plea. "We find that the high court was justified in declining to refer the case to CBI," the bench held.
The bench observed that four other cases in connection with the same project before the high court were either dismissed or disposed of. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing Reddy, contended that the plea sought a direction to the CBI to investigate the alleged fraud. Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for Megha Engineering, raised objections about the maintainability of the appeal.
Earlier, the apex court had asked the Telangana government to produce the original file relating to the preparation of estimates. The apex court had also asked Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited to produce the original file relating to the joint venture agreement with Megha Engineering.
Reddy had filed a PIL in the high court against the contract awarded to a joint venture between BHEL and MEIL. Reddy had claimed that it caused a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore to the public exchequer.
