The Supreme Court on Friday (25 September) dismissed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the Karnataka High Court's judgment which had quashed criminal complaint against Karnataka's Energy Minister KJ George and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) officials over alleged irregularities in the tender procurement and installation of smart electricity meters in Karnataka.

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran declined to interfere with the High Court's order, holding that there existed “no good ground to interfere with the impugned order passed by the High Court.”

A criminal complaint was filed against Minister KJ George and BESCOM officials, by three MLAs (CN Ashwath Narayan, SR Vishwanath, and Dheeraj Muniraj) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging offences under Sections 314, 316, and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and Section 13(1)(a), 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PC Act), in connection with the tender for smart meters. The MLAs had first approached the Lokayukta police before filing the complaint before the PC Act Special Court.

On George's petition seeking quashing of the proceedings, the Karnataka High Court had quashed the proceedings reasoning that it had found no material to substantiate the corruption allegation, and no allegation of any pecuniary benefit having been received by the Minister.

Aggrieved by the High Court's ruling, the BJP MLAs filed an SLP before the Supreme Court.

While hearing the matter on Friday, the Supreme Court found no reasons to interfere with the High Court's order quashing the proceedings. Dismissing the SLP, the bench held as follows:

“Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and having gone through the materials on record, we find no good ground to interfere with the impugned order passed by the High Court.”

Case: Ashwanathnarayan CN & Ors v State of Karnataka & Ors (Diary No. 14883/2026)

Appearance:

For Petitioners: Mr. Lakshmy Iyenger, Sr. Adv.; Mr. Dhawesh Pahuja, AOR; Mr. Saket Gogia, Adv.; Mr. Aakash Vt, Adv.; Mr. Harshith S, Adv.; Ms. Gauri Pande, Adv.; Mr. Mansingh, Adv. Mr. Deepesh Meena, Adv.; Mr. Adithya KS, Adv.; Ms. Harshita Singh Tomar, Adv.

For Respondents: Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.; Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR; Ms. Suchitra Kumbhat, Adv. Mr. Rohit H Nair, Adv.; Ms. Ishika Gandhi, Adv.; Mr. Shathabish Shivanna, Adv.; Mr. Abhishek Janardhan, Adv.; Mr. Samrudh Suraj Hegde, Adv.