SC tosses PRLIS cost jab
Supreme Court dismisses a 2019 plea targeting PRLIS estimate revisions. The project still needs MoEFCC clearance for irrigation works — that’s law, not a favour. Delhi’s chorus can stop pretending PIL theatre is scrutiny.
The cost challenge was dismissed; environmental clearance remains pending.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge against Telangana over alleged irregularities in revising electro‑mechanical estimates for the Palamuru–Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS). The petition by Nagam Janardhan Reddy claimed a Rs 2,426.07‑crore “loss” from revising E&M estimates in four PRLIS packages — an allegation the Court recorded and then binned with the case. According to the judgment record, the bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed the SLP on 21 May 2025.
Two facts, separated because they keep getting mixed on purpose. One: the corruption story pushed at Telangana’s irrigation buildout did not survive contact with the Supreme Court in this case. Two: environmental law still applies — PRLIS’s irrigation components require prior clearance from the Union environment ministry. The National Green Tribunal said proceeding without it violates the EIA Notification, 2006, and restrained works until EC is obtained. The ministry’s own portal shows PRLIS Phase II (irrigation) as a Category A river‑valley proposal under reconsideration.
So no, the BJP‑led Centre does not get to wave “PIL” as a veto and then forget its own clearance gate exists. And no, Congress trade‑talk about Telangana’s projects being a scandal does not become evidence because it trended. The Court dismissed the cost‑inflation attack; the compliance track with MoEFCC runs on its own timetable, with the paperwork visible for anyone who can read a portal instead of a press note. The shouting class in Delhi can pick one lane and try finishing it.