PIL in Telangana HC to direct TS & AP to prevent frequent floods due to construction of irrigation projects

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court’s division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T Vinod Kumar, on Wednesday issued notices to the Union Home Secretary, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Secretary Ministry of Jalshakti, member-secretary, National Disaster Management Authority and the Chief Secretaries of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The bench issued notices after hearing the plea filed by M Kodanda Ram Reddy, president, Telangana Jana Samithi.

His counsel informed the court that the PIL was filed before the Supreme Court, which, after hearing, directed the petitioner to approach the Telangana HC. Accordingly, Reddy filed the petition. The counsel said due to construction of Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project in Telangana and the Polavaram project in AP, many districts in Telangana--Mancherial, Jayashankar-Bhupalapally, Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Mulugu, Peddapalli and Komaram Bheem--got inundation resulting in loss of crops and material of people. The States have not taken any concrete preventive measures to thwart frequent inundation of districts in AP and Telangana, loss of life and property during monsoon.

The petitioner sought a direction to declare frequent Godavari floods in Kaleshwaram and Polavaram projects as a national disaster, constitute an expert committee to enumerate the damage caused due to construction of Kaleshwaram project, pay compensation to victims, construct suitable embankments/protection walls in Mancherial and Bhadrachalam. The bench adjourned the hearing by four weeks for filing of counter-affidavits by both States.

HC directs govt to inform date of appointing CIC & ICs

The HC division on Wednesday directed the State government to inform within four weeks by which date it will take steps to appoint the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners to the Telangana Information Commission under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

During the hearing of PIL filed by Forum for Good Governance seeking a direction to the government to make the appointments of CIC and ICs (five) to TIC, A Santosh Kumar, Special Government Pleader informed the court that the government has already initiated steps to make appointments.

In this regard, an advertisement inviting applications for the posts was issued on July 3 this year. Responding to the advertisement, 40 applications have been received for the post of CIC and 273 for post of ICs, he said.

The State is yet to constitute a selection committee, which will scrutinise the applications and identify suitable persons for the posts. The SGP sought four weeks’ time to enable the government to constitute the selection committee and make appointments

The CJ court had issued notices to the government on April 6 this year directing it to take steps to appoint the above officers to the TIC. Hearing in the case was adjourned by four weeks.