NICE project: SC gives eight weeks to Karnataka to resolve land dispute

The Supreme Court on Monday gave further eight weeks time to the Karnataka government to resolve its dispute relating to acquisition of land to ensure completion of the multi-crore Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP).

A three-judge bench presided over by Justice J S Khehar allowed a plea made by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the project proponent - Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) and Advocate General Madhusudan Nayak for holding meetings.

On April 18, the court had directed senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for Karnataka and the Advocate General, to hold meetings with senior advocate Dave and the officers of the project proponent in May to resolve the issues. The court had then pulled up the state government, saying the project, linking Mysuru to Bengaluru could not be completed in 20 years.

The Karnataka government had gone slow with the project, and had earlier claimed before the court that law and order problem may be created by farmers in case of the acquisition of the land.

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 involves construction of 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.