In a relief to Energy Minister K.J. George, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against him and two officials on a complaint lodged by BJP leaders alleging a series of illegalities and corruption in the process of awarding tender in favour of a private company to supply smart electricity meters at an exorbitant price.
Justice M.I. Arun passed the order while allowing the separate petitions filed by Mr. George, Mahantesh Bilagi, then managing director (MD) of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) and presently MD of Karnataka Minerals Corporation Ltd., and Ramesh H.J., director-technical of Bescom.
The petitioners had questioned the legality of an order, passed on July 23, by the Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MPs and MLAs, directing the Superintendent of Police (SP), Lokayukta, to submit a report on the complaint lodged by the BJP legislators, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, S.R. Vishwanath, and Dheeraj Muniraj.
‘No criminality’
“The tender being awarded in favour of the successful bidder, no criminality can be attributed against them in the awarding of the contract,” the court said.
“The manner in which the tender has been floated and the terms and conditions of the contract are mentioned, at the maximum the same can be challenged to be in violation of the KTPP Act, but definitely no criminality can be attributed to the petitioners.” the High Court observed.
‘Can be a PIL’
However, the court made it clear that the allegations of the provisions of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 1999 (KTPP Act) being violated or any other improper method of tender process and awarding of the contract, may give rise to a civil cause of action, for the concerned parties, who were desirous of making a bid for the contract or it can also be a matter of public interest litigation”.
On going through the complaint, the High Court pointed out that “it is not the case of the complainants that the petitioners took money at the time of awarding the contract to the successful bidder. But it is their [of complainants] case that the entire tender process was designed to favour the successful bidder… which is a shell company and front of Mr. George so that he gets unjustly enriched”.
The High Court pointed out that nobody was illegally disqualified from tender… “and selection of bidders was made transparently and no favour has been shown to the successful bidder”, Rajashree Electricals Pvt. Ltd., (REPL), Davangere.
The court stated that it is not the case of the complainants that after finalising the terms and conditions of the tender document, when the contract was awarded to the successful bidder, the terms and conditions of the tender document were altered or flouted to favour the successful bidder. In fact, the Bescom has subsequently negotiated with the successful bidder to the terms more favourably to the Bescom.
“…after the tender was awarded to the successful bidder, negotiations have taken place and no additional benefit has been given to the successful bidder. Whatever changes have taken place are for the benefit of the State or as a natural consequence of the business transactions, for which no criminality can be attributed to the accused,” the High Court observed.
Published – December 02, 2025 07:48 pm IST
