SC asks Karnataka govt to resolve NICE project issues

The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Karnataka government for its “inability” to acquire land and ensure completion of the multi-crore Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP).

A three-judge bench presided over by Justice J S Khehar, however, directed senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for Karnataka and Advocate General Madhusudan Nayak, to hold meetings with senior advocate Dushyant Dave and the officers of the project proponent on May 14, 15 and 16 to resolve the issue.

“There is a project, linking Mysuru to Bengaluru. About 160-km road is to be built, but you could not do it in 20 years, sometimes it was due to government change or the other time, the party in power did not want it. You just can’t stall the project as some other political leader started it,” the bench told the state government counsel.  
  
“The central government is said to be laying 30 km roads in a day but you could not make 140-km road in 20 years,” the bench, also comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and C Nagappan, added. Chief Secretary to Karnataka government  Arvind Jadhav, along with other officials and co-promoter of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Ashok Kheny were present.

The Karnataka government had gone slow with the project, and had earlier claimed before the court that law and order problems may be created by farmers in case of the acquisition of land. The NICE, which bagged the project, had contended that the state government was not implementing the apex court’s 2006 judgment, which had upheld the High Court’s decision dismissing different petitions challenging the land acquisitions.

The BMICP conceived an expressway along with the infrastructure corridor between Bengaluru and Mysuru.

The project, to come up on 20,193 acres also envisaged development of five townships. The BMICP was to be built by a private developer at an initial cost of over Rs 2,500 crore.

It was expected to reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru to just 90 minutes. However, the project envisaged in 2004, is yet to see the light of the day due to multiplicity of litigations in the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court challenging the land acquisition and rules allegedly violated by the state government to favour the company.