Observing that the petition filed by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd (NICE) has already been decided, the Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of the petition concerning the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP) till October 29.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari said the court has already upheld the Karnataka High Court judgment and now it was the question of implementation of the order.

“You should approach the Karnataka High Court for the implementation of the order or otherwise file a contempt application there,” said the bench.

“File a contempt for the execution of the High Court order pronounced on September 21, 1998 in the Somashekhar Reddy case,” said the court.

However, senior advocate Ashok Desai appearing for NICE said the petitioner would satisfy the apex court as the matter pertained to its jurisdiction.

‘Change of policy’
Mr Desai alleged that the present government did not want to execute the project.

“The H D Kumaraswamy government should realise that change of government should not lead to change of policy or decision taken by the previous government,” he said.

He prayed the court to restrain the Karnataka government from taking drastic steps by throwing NICE out of the project and appointing another contractor.

The Karnataka High Court in its judgment delivered on September 21, 1998 in the Somashekhar Reddy case held that the company was entitled to sell only 45 per cent of the available land in the five townships and the roads would be handed over to the government after the lapse of the lease period.

The Supreme Court in its judgment on April 20, 2006 had upheld the High Court order and directed the parties to stick to the clauses of the original agreement.