The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday scrapped a private complaint filed against Energy Minister KJ George over allegations of irregularities in the tender process for smart meters in the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM).
Justice MI Arun allowed the minister’s plea seeking to quash the criminal proceedings initiated by an Additional City Civil and Sessions Court on July 23, which had ordered registration of a private complaint report (PCR) against George and two senior BESCOM officials.
Former BESCOM Managing Director D. Mahantesh Bilagi and Technical Director H.J. Ramesh had filed similar petitions challenging the same proceedings. The court noted that criminal action cannot continue against Bilagi, who recently died in a road accident, and accordingly terminated proceedings against him.
The complaint had been filed by BJP leaders C.N. Ashwath Narayan, S.R. Vishwanath, and Dheeraj Muniraju, alleging that George and the officials manipulated the tender process for procuring and installing smart meters. They accused the officials of undervaluing the tender, relaxing eligibility norms, and violating procurement rules to favour a particular vendor.
The July 23 order had also directed the Lokayukta Police to submit a status report on an earlier complaint lodged by the same BJP leaders over the purported irregularities.
With Tuesday’s ruling, all trial court proceedings arising from the private complaint have now been quashed.
