Bengaluru: Karnataka Energy Minister K J George got a temporary relief from the Karnataka High Court against the direction of the Special Court for People's Representatives, which had directed registering a private complaint (PCR) against the minister in connection with the tendering process of smart meters in alleged Rs 16,000 crore scam.

The Karnataka High Court judge Justice M B Arun has stayed the process of registering PCR and posted the hearing of the case for next week.

While hearing the appeal by K J George, pleading to quash the order by the Special Court for People's Representatives, Minister's Counsel C V Nagesh argued that the Court had sought the report from the Lokayukta, while ordering to register PCR against the minister. However, under Sec 17(A), giving directions without taking permission from the competent authority is in violation of BNS Rules.

The Court, while giving an interim stay for the order, has posted the further hearing of the case to next week.

The controversy over the tendering process of installing smart electricity meters to every house in the State took a turn when BJP functionaries and MLAs Dr C N Ashwath Narayana, S R Vishwanath and D Muniraju lodged a complaint with the Special Court for People's Representatives. The complaint also mentioned the names of Energy Secretary Gaurav Gupta, previous BESCOM MD Mahanthesh Bilagi and BESCOM Technical Director S G Ramesh, along with the minister K J George.

The complaint alleged that a tender was floated in Sep 2025 to provide smart meter services and it was allotted to one of the bidders, a Davanagere based shell company. Rather than floating separate tenders for each of the ESCOMS (Electricity Supply Companies), the tender was floated only in the name of BESCOM.

The entire process not only violated provisions under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, but also went against the guidelines laid down by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission, the complaint stated.

Considering the complainants' request to register an FIR under various sections of BNS and Prevention of Corruption Act, Special Court judge Santhosh Gajanana Bhat had directed the Lokayukta, probing the case to submit its finding and register PCR against Minister George and others.