Bengaluru: The engineer-in-chief of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was given a bailable warrant by the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday February 15 for failing to appear before it during the hearing on a petition related to the filling up of potholes in Bengaluru.
The court had ordered the engineer-in-chief to appear before it on Tuesday during the previous hearing, but he did not.
The court has previously stated that officials responsible for commuter deaths caused by potholes will be sent to jail.
In the order, a division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj stated, “The City Police Commissioner is directed to execute the warrant and produce the officer before the court.”
The next hearing on Vijayan Menon and others’ public interest litigation has been adjourned for Thursday. When questioned why the engineer-in-chief was not present, BBMP counsel V. Srinidhi explained that the officer was ill.
“If he was unable to appear, he may have made a mention and moved an exemption application in advance, but not when the case is taken up,” the court noted in issuing the warrant.