5 Public Works Department officials suspended for having birthday party in high-security Karnataka high court building

Bengaluru: Four assistant engineers and a first division assistant with Public Works Department (PWD) were suspended for organising a birthday party after switching off CCTV cameras at the special buildings division of PWD at the Karnataka high court, a designated high-security building.
The suspended officials are assistant engineers Lavanya, Meena AT, Naveen and Amin S Anadinni and first division assistant GH Chikke Gowda. Their posts are under the control of the chief engineer (communications and buildings), Bengaluru. The party was held to celebrate the birthday of Meena, who was on deputation to urban development department. The govt order, dated April 5, 2025, announced the suspensions.
A complaint regarding the conduct of the party was reported on March 10, 2025. Based on this, BV Jagadeesh, the chief engineer (Communication and Building-Central), Shivamogga was appointed as the enquiry officer. He told TOI: "As the investigating officer assigned from outside the circle, I conducted the inquiry. The employees had organised a birthday celebration on Feb 22, 2025. During the investigation, it was discovered that they had turned off the CCTV cameras from 5.30pm to 6.15pm. After two days of thorough verification and questioning, I documented their statements and submitted the findings to the department."
On April 3, 2025, the enquiry officer sent a letter stating it was found Naveen and Amin S Anadinni, GH Chikke Gowda, Ambika, Megha, and Rajanish S (all SDAs) and Venkatamma (Group D), along with staff from another office - Meena and Lavanya, and Sangamesh and Kiran (both contractors) — illegally had birthday party in the high security campus.
It was also revealed that upon instructions from Chikke Gowda, Ambika, Megha, Rajanish, and Venkatamma made all the arrangements without any prior permission. Venkatamma switched off the CCTV cameras, thereby causing a serious security lapse.
Outsiders Lavanya, Amin S Anadinni, and Naveen took part in the celebrations. It was also found that Naveen, Amin S Anadinni, and contractor Kiran attended the function after preparing the sketch relating to urgent works to be undertaken at the conference hall of the high court.
It was opined that this was serious misconduct on the part of the officials, who have been suspended as it violated section 3(1)(i to iv) of the Karnataka State Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021.