BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday stayed further proceedings against energy minister KJ George, Bescom MD Mahantesh Bilagi and another official in the case pertaining to a special court directing the Lokayukta police to submit a report on a private complaint filed by three BJP MLAs over the alleged irregularities in inviting tenders for supply of smart meters.
Justice MI Arun passed the interim order staying the proceedings till August 20 and issued notice to the complainants after hearing the petitions filed by George, Bilagi and another Bescom official questioning the legality of the order passed by the special court.
Their counsel argued that the order passed by the special court is against the law as no prior sanction was obtained from the competent authority to prosecute the petitioners, who are public servants, as mandated under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The complainants, MLAs Ashwath Narayan CN, SR Vishwanath and Dheeraj Muniraj, approached the Lokayukta police on April 21. Before the Lokayukta police initiated action, the complainants filed a private complaint before the special court, which registered it for offences under the provisions of BNS and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
It was alleged that George and the Bescom officials manipulated the tender process for supply and installation of smart meters, causing wrongful loss to the exchequer and wrongful gain to a third party contractor, M/s Rajashree Electricals.
It was also alleged that the tender was undervalued, pre-qualification criteria were diluted, and statutory procurement norms under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act and government orders were violated to favour a pre-selected vendor. Even before filing the complaint, a representation was submitted to the Lokayukta police, followed by a reminder on May 23.
Subsequently, the petitioners wrote to the Governor on July 15 seeking sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Despite the matter pending before the Lokayukta and the Governor, the complainants approached the special court in undue haste, it was alleged.