BENGALURU: A private complaint filed by a former corporator alleges that the aggrieved Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) itself has maintained silence on recovering crores of rupees in advertisement tax from the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), for using its bus shelters to display achievements of the state government.
The ads pertain to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s 2013-18 tenure. The complaint alleges that Siddaramaiah and then Urban Development Minister KJ George might have bribed or given illegal gratification to accused bureaucrats of the DIPR to maintain silence, and a special court dismissed it.
Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court for trial of criminal cases against former and sitting MPs/MLAs in the state, said allegations are levelled on assumptions and presumptions, which cannot be a basis for setting criminal law into motion. Also, the complaint was dismissed by holding there are no grounds to proceed against accused No.1 to 5, he said.
The complaint was filed by NR Ramesh in 2025, with a prayer to register the case against accused Siddaramaiah, George, then DIPR principal secretaries Lakshminarayayan, Manivannan P and then BBMP commissioner Manjunath Prasad, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and refer the complaint for proper investigation by Lokayukta police.
Alleging that a loss of Rs 68.14 crore was caused to BBMP by displaying ads on 439 bus shelters from 2015 to 2017 without obtaining permission and not paying the fee, Ramesh moved the special court after the Lokayukta closed his complaint on July 29, 2024, with a finding that since it is a government policy matter or administrative action of the democratic government, the act cannot be considered an ‘allegation’ since there is no misappropriation or exhibition of misconduct.
It is also said the aggrieved person is BBMP, which has not filed a complaint against DIPR. While according permission to advertise, BBMP has not given conditional permission to pay tax, the Lokayukta concluded, closing the complaint.
However, Ramesh alleged before the special court that he had little hope on the Karnataka Lokayukta, but surprisingly the complaint was closed with a one-sided report which was made to safeguard the accused persons.
Referring to the Lokayukta’s findings, the special court said it would clearly indicate that the interest of justice will not be subserved, by once again referring the case for investigation. Admittedly, BBMP is also under financial assistance and aid of the Karnataka government, which takes care of welfare schemes as well as maintaining BBMP.