Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said the state government would request Telangana High Court Chief Justice Alok Aradhe to spare a sitting judge to probe the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) paper leakages.
In an informal chat with media persons in an Assembly lobby, the Chief Minister said the government would make the request when the case comes up for hearing. "Between the Central Bureau of Investigation and a sitting judge, we prefer the second one," he said.
Revanth Reddy said the government had been waiting for the existing TSPSC board to be dissolved as any recruitment conducted by it would lack credibility. All the members and chairman also submitted resignations and a new board would be constituted soon after the Governor accepts their resignations, he said.
Reiterating his commitment to provide clean governance, Revanth Reddy said he would look at the integrity and honesty of a bureaucrat before assigning important tasks and all the appointments made so far at the CMO or police department reflected this. "None of the officers approached me for posting and in fact, they were surprised to know about their posting," he said.
He also made it clear that he would not be vengeful against officers and expect them to move out after the change in guard, referring to several technocrats still holding office in places like T-Hub and T-Works.
On Cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister said it was left totally to the party’s central leadership and currently, the party gave the existing Cabinet a clear mandate to fulfil all the promises. He expressed happiness
over the positive vibes the Cabinet formulation sent across the party cadres and all the ministers were given good portfolios.
Revanth Reddy revealed that the energy officials admitted with evidence that the previous BRS government never implemented a 24-hour power supply to the farm sector and at best, it was given for 10-12 hours. "The previous government sought to project supply of single-phase current, which helps only to switch on a bulb in the farm, as 24-hour supply," he said.
On holding back the Airport Metro contract, he said he was against wasteful expenditure. "I won’t spend a rupee where it is not required and will be modest in building camp office or arranging convoy," he said, adding he had turned down a proposal to buy new vehicles for the convoy by spending about `40 crore, and instead, asking officials to change the colour of vehicles to black, apparently his favourite colour.
Impressed so much with the grandeur of the Parliament where he spent his four and a half years as the Malkajgiri MP, the Chief Minister said the council would be shifted from Jubilee Hall to Old Assembly Hall and a Central Hall would be created in the Assembly complex.
"We will bring the old glory to Jubilee Hall and develop Public Gardens on the lines of Moghul Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. A small camp office with a built-up area of four to five thousand square feet will be raised at the corner of the MCRHRD complex in Jubilee Hills," he said adding that in the meantime, he would explore utilising the Praja Bhavan for the CM camp office.