The Telangana government has appointed Andhra Pradesh High Court’s former Chief Justice Madan B Lokur as the head of the judicial commission investigating power purchase irregularities under the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) tenure. The move comes after L Narasimha Reddy, a retired judge who was heading the Commission, stepped down on July 16 after the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over some of the press statements made by him even before he began the probe.
Justice Reddy was heading a one-man commission of inquiry constituted by the Congress-led Telangana government to probe irregularities that took place between 2014 and 2023, the nine years when Bharat Rashtra Samithi was in power with K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) as the Chief Minister. The Commission was appointed in March 2024 to probe alleged irregularities in the 1,000 MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Chhattisgarh Power Distribution Company Limited and in the execution of 4×270 MW Bhadradri Thermal Power Station (BTPS) and 5×800 MW Yadadri Thermal Power Station (YTPS).
The former judge held a press conference over a month ago on June 12, suggesting that irregularities had already been committed and that his responsibility was solely to calculate the loss to the state exchequer.
Following the press conference, KCR in a 12-page letter to the former judge said, “There appears to be no impartiality in your investigation. Therefore, it is clear that whatever I say in front of you is of no use. Considering the above, I humbly request you to voluntarily step down from the Commission.”
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After Justice Reddy stated that he was planning to step down, the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra disposed of the petition filed by KCR. The Supreme Court was hearing the petition – which challenged the notification constituting the commission issued by the ruling Congress – after the Telangana High Court dismissed KCR’s petition on July 2.