Karnataka High Court reprieve for Bangalore University engineer

Bengaluru: In a reprieve for N Puttaswamy, an engineer attached to

Bangalore University

, the high court passed an interim order which virtually restrains authorities from suspending him for the

Kolar PG Centre construction controversy.

As per the interim order, authorities have to submit their response to the petition filed by Puttaswamy before passing any suspension order. The court, however, has permitted the authorities to go ahead with the ongoing inquiry, while ordering notice to the BU, its vice-chancellor and Karnataka chief secretary .

Puttaswamy has challenged the showcause notice issued by the government asking him to explain why he shouldn’t be kept under suspension, pending inquiry, for causing Rs 1.6-crore loss on account of the delay in construction of the PG Centre.

The

BU engineer

claimed that Justice K Shivashankar Bhat, a retired high court judge who probed the matter, had opined that it was difficult to blame only one person; it appears to be a case of systemic failure.