New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday castigated Justice (retd) L Narasimha Reddy, the chairperson of the one-man Commission of Inquiry set up to probe alleged irregularities in the power sector during the tenure of ex-Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, for making observations about the merits of the matter at a press conference.
Under fire from the Supreme Court, Reddy, a former chief justice of the Patna High Court, withdrew from the panel, and the bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud asked the Telangana government to name his replacement. Justice Reddy’s withdrawal came during dramatic proceedings on the plea of the former chief minister who accused him of bias.
“Justice must be seen to be done. He is heading the Commission of Inquiry and expressed his views on merits in a press conference! We are giving you (Telangana government) an opportunity to replace the judge in the Commission of Inquiry. Appoint some other judge. Because there has to be an impression that he made observations on merits,” a bench headed by Justice Chandrachud said before rising for the lunch break.
“Error of approach does not make it a case of bias,” senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing the current Congress government led by Revanth Reddy, told the bench, also comprising JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The bench observed that the former judge should not have commented on the merits of the matter even before the inquiry had started.
Referring to the press conference, the bench said, “Had it just been indicating the modalities followed (by the commission of inquiry), we would have left it at that. Here, it is a little untoward for a person who is a judge… The problem is that there appear observations on merits. Let us also face it, it doesn’t bind anybody but the inquiry report affects the reputation of a person.”
The bench underscored the importance of procedural fairness and said it needed to be adhered to.
“Justice should be visible in the conduct of the head of the Commission as well,” the CJI said.
Sensing the mood of the bench, Singhvi said he has taken instructions and the state government was willing to replace Justice Reddy. He, however, urged the court to not make it a part of the order.
Later, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Justice Reddy, told the bench that the former judge “does not intend to continue to act in pursuance of the notification appointing him as Commissioner”.
The bench gave the state government the liberty to issue a fresh notification naming Justice Reddy’s replacement.
At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the former chief minister, said the entire case was based on “political vendetta”. “Every time the government changes, there is a case against the former chief minister,” he said.
“You cannot fix responsibility in a fact finding commission,” Rohatgi said and listed out some alleged instances of bias against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader.
The former chief minister has assailed the government order (GO) of March 14 for setting up the inquiry panel.
In a setback to Rao, the Telangana High Court had on July 1 dismissed a writ petition filed by him seeking declaration of the constitution of the Commission of Inquiry as illegal.
In his plea, Rao challenged the setting up of the CoI to probe the correctness and propriety of the previous BRS dispensation’s decisions on power procurement from Chhattisgarh by Telangana power distribution companies and construction of the Bhadradri Thermal Power Plant at Manuguru and Yadadri Thermal Plant at Damarcherla by TS GENCO.
Rao also sought Reddy’s continuance as the head of the commission to be declared illegal.
He also termed as arbitrary the communication directing him to appear before the commission to produce evidence against the witnesses.
Responding to the letter asking him to appear before the commission and on the media interaction held by Justice Reddy, Rao had on June 15 alleged that the conduct of the panel’s chairperson was not fair.
In a 12-page “open letter” addressed to Justice Reddy, Rao had demanded that he must step down.
KCR had highlighted the measures taken by his government to address the alleged crisis in the power sector that existed in Telangana before June 2014 when he assumed office.
Asserting that his government succeeded in supplying 24×7 power to all sectors in the state, Rao alleged that the current Congress dispensation had ordered the commission of inquiry “with a clear political motive and to discredit the earlier government”.
