BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued a bailable warrant against the engineer-in-chief of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for failing to appear before it during the hearing on a petition related to filling up of potholes in Bengaluru.
During the last hearing, the court had directed the engineer-in-chief to be present before it on Tuesday, but he stayed away. The court had orally warned that it will send officials responsible for deaths of commuters due to potholes to jail.
“The City Police Commissioner is directed to execute the warrant and produce the officer before the court,” said a division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj in the order. The next hearing on the public interest litigation filed by Vijayan Menon and others was adjourned to Thursday. When asked about the absence of the engineer-in-chief, BBMP counsel V Srinidhi told the court that the officer was ill.
BBMP chief gets summons
Issuing the warrant, the court said, “If he was not in a position to appear, he could have made a mention and moved an exemption application in advance but not when the case is taken up.
” In another case, the High Court directed the BBMP Chief Commissioner to be present before it for defying its order on dumping solid waste at a q
uarry in Mittaganahalli without authorisation from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. The Chief Commissioner has been directed to appear along with revenue records to ascertain on whose directions the solid waste is being dumped at the site. The hearing was adjourned to March 5, 2022.