The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed a private complaint filed against Energy Minister KJ George in connection with allegations that he and senior officials of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) were involved in manipulating the tender process for the supply and installation of smart meters [KJ George v. State of Karnataka and a connected matter].

Justice MI Arun passed the order on a petition filed by George to quash the case.

Similar petitions were also filed by former BESCOM Managing Director D Mahantesh Bilagi and Director of Technical Department HJ Ramesh.

The Court today ordered that criminal proceedings against Bilagi be dropped as well since he had passed away recently in a road accident.

On July 23, an Additional City Civil and Sessions Court ordered the registration of a private complaint report (PCR) against George, Bilagi, and Ramesh in the matter.

The direction came on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, CN Ashwath Narayan, SR Vishwanath, and Dheeraj Muniraj, who accused George of entering into a conspiracy with BESCOM officials to manipulate the smart meter tender process.

The complainants had claimed that this 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.

Through the same July 23 order, special court judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat ordered the registration of a PCR in the matter, and also sought a status report from the Lokayukta Police on a complaint earlier sent by the BJP leaders to the Lokayukta alleging irregularities in the smart meter tender.

The Court today quashed these trial court proceedings.