Lokayukta court proceedings against Nice stayed

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday granted an interim stay on the probe ordered by the Special Lokayukta court in a case alleging irregularities in implementation of Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises.

The Lokayukta Court had ordered a probe into the alleged irregularities involving at least 102 persons in the implementation of the Nice project following a complaint filed by activist T J Abraham in October this year. The Nice had approached the High Court challenging the order.

Abraham, in his complaint, had stated that the State under Deve Gowda as the chief minister entered into a memorandum of understanding with a consortium formed by Ashok Kheny and Baba Kalyani among others for the construction of a highway from Bangalore to Mysore in 1995, without ever ascertaining their financial capability.

“The government agreed to facilitate land acquisition from private landowners and also entered into a lease agreement for 1,913 acres of its own land at the rate of Rs 10 per acre per annum for a period of 30 years,” he had said. He had alleged that the consortium was unable to pay Rs 10 crore to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) and mortgaged the government land for Rs 150 crore with ICICI Bank.

“The primary objective of the whole project was to merely grab land in and around Bangalore. Under the original agreement, the total land that was required for the peripheral road and the expressway to Mysore was 20,193 acre. But the government set up the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning Authority (BMICAPA) and installed Ashok Kheny on the board, even though he had no right to be there,” he said.

Abraham had submitted that during S M Krishna’s tenure as the chief minister, the then Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works Department, had stated that if Nice was exempted from the payment of stamp duty of Rs 56 crore on the first sale of land to the company at townships, the government would stand to benefit subsequently by way of the second sale of lands in the townships.

This, Abraham had argued, was a fraudulent excuse used deliberately to cause a specific loss of Rs 56 crore to the State Exchequer.

Benefit extended

“No builder or land developer has been extended or given this kind of a benefit in the State till date for the development of a township for private financial aggrandisement,” Abraham had alleged.

During the hearing, the counsel for Nice submitted that Lokayukta officials were issuing notice to persons against whom allegations have been made, despite the matter pending before the High Court. Justice Billappa ordered stay for four weeks.