Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the state government to file a detailed explanation regarding alleged irregularities in the selection of partner organisations for setting up vocational education training centres in schools under the PM SHRI and Samagra Shiksha schemes.
The court also ordered the filing of comprehensive counter-affidavits detailing the alleged misuse of funds.
Notices issued
Notices were issued to the central government, the chief secretary of Telangana, the principal secretary of School Education, the state project director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, and joint director Venkatanarasamma in her personal capacity.
Letter alleges large-scale corruption
The court was acting on a letter written by a lawyer alleging large-scale corruption in the bidding process for vocational training courses for the 2024–25 academic year. According to the complaint, officials allegedly accepted bribes worth crores of rupees from bidders and allotted contracts to preferred entities, leading to the suspension of bidding for the year.
The letter stated that the Telangana government had invited bids for establishing vocational education centres in 946 schools, of which approvals were reportedly granted to 500 bids.
It was further alleged that norms were violated to favour select bidders and that approvals were granted in many cases despite receiving only a single bid.
Serious allegations were also levelled against Joint Director Venkatanarasamma, accusing her of demanding bribes from bidders and being involved in financial irregularities. The complainant sought a detailed investigation into the matter.
HC treats letter as PIL
Treating the letter as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin heard the matter on Tuesday.
The bench issued notices to both the Union and State governments and directed them to file their counter-affidavits within three weeks. The matter has been adjourned for further hearing.
