Karnataka court dismisses complaint accusing CM Siddaramaiah of causing ad revenue loss to BBMP

A Special Court in Bengaluru recently dismissed a complaint filed against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Minister KJ George and three others on allegations that they conspired to cause crores of advertisement revenue losses to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) between 2015 and 2017. .The complaint filed by a former corporator and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, NR Ramesh, claimed that losses to the tune of ₹68.14 were caused to BBMP because the State government used bus shelters owned by the municipal body to advertise the Congress government’s achievements without paying any advertisement fee..The advertisements were displayed in 2015-16 and 2016-17 periods during Siddaramaiah's earlier tenure as Chief Minister between 2013 to 2018. Ramesh alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the then-Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning KJ George may have bribed officials not to demand any advertisement fee from the State..The other officials accused of possibly taking such bribes, allegedly to keep quiet and not take any action against the Congress government, were then Principal Secretaries of the Information and Public Information Department, Lakshminarayan and Manivannan P, apart from the then BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad..However, judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat concluded that all these allegations were levelled based on assumptions and presumptions which cannot be a basis for setting criminal law into motion. It noted that there was not enough material to even call for a preliminary inquiry into the matter.“Though it is submitted that absolutely there is no bar to refer for preliminary enquiry/inquiry (in the absence of sanction to prosecute State officials), on appreciating the entire factual aspects of the case, when no prima facie case is made out, it would not be appropriate to refer the same for preliminary enquiry,” the court's April 28 ruling said..Merely advertising one’s achievements by using bus shelters is not a corrupt practice, the Court said. It added that even though there is some force in the submission that the procedure adopted to do so may have been irregular, such irregularities cannot be viewed as illegal..The Karnataka Lokayukta had earlier closed Ramesh’s complaint after noting that the BBMP, which should have been the aggrieved party, had not filed any complaint. The Lokayukta concluded that Ramesh’s complaint did not disclose the actual role of Siddaramaiah and George, and further noted that the matter pertains to an administrative policy.Ramesh challenged such a closure of his complaint, arguing that the Lokayukta had filed a one-sided report to safeguard the accused without doing any proper investigation..The specialcCourt, however, was not convinced that there was anything wrong with the Lokayukta’s decision. It noted that even the BBMP receives financial assistance from the State government. In such a scenario, it was difficult to accept the argument that the BBMP had caused losses to the public exchequer because it did not raise any bills for advertisements carried at bus shelters by the State.“Interest of justice will not be subserved, by once again referring the case for investigation. Infact, already the concerned Lokayukta has conducted enquiry, which is found correct. Ergo, the complaint is devoid of merits and the same is liable to rejected,” the Court added while dismissing the complaint, which had invoked provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.Advocate Mohan Reddy appeared for NR Ramesh. .[Read Order]