The Karnataka High Court has dismissed the private complaint accusing Minister KJ George of manipulating the BESCOM smart meter tender. The Court also dropped proceedings against former BESCOM MD Mahantesh Bilagi following his recent death.
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed a private complaint that had been filed against Energy Minister KJ George. The case was related to allegations that George and senior officials of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) had manipulated the tender process for supplying and installing smart meters.
The order was passed in the case after George approached the High Court seeking to quash the complaint.
Justice MI Arun allowed George’s petition and made it clear that the criminal case could not continue. Similar petitions were also filed by former BESCOM Managing Director D Mahantesh Bilagi and BESCOM Director (Technical) HJ Ramesh.
During the hearing, the Court noted that Bilagi had recently passed away in a road accident, and therefore ordered that
“criminal proceedings against Bilagi be dropped as well since he had passed away recently in a road accident.”
The background of the case dates back to July 23, when an Additional City Civil and Sessions Court had passed an order directing that a private complaint report (PCR) be registered against George, Bilagi, and Ramesh.
This direction came on the basis of a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders CN Ashwath Narayan, SR Vishwanath, and Dheeraj Muniraj. These leaders had accused George of working together with BESCOM officials to influence and manipulate the smart meter tender.
They claimed that the tender was “undervalued,” that “pre-qualification criteria were diluted during the tender selection process,” and that
“statutory procurement norms were violated to favour a pre-selected vendor.”
The July 23 order by special court judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat had not only directed the registration of a PCR but had also sought a status report from the Lokayukta Police.
This was based on a previous complaint that the BJP leaders had submitted to the Lokayukta, alleging irregularities in the smart meter tender and demanding an inquiry.
After examining all these developments, the Karnataka High Court has now quashed the trial court proceedings.
With this order, the criminal process initiated against KJ George and the BESCOM officials stands cancelled, bringing an end to the litigation arising from the allegations surrounding the smart meter tender process.
Case Title:
KJ George v. State of Karnataka and a connected matter
Click Here to Read Our Reports on Smart Meter Row
