NICE drops land acquisition case in Karnataka High Court after chief secretary-led meeting

Bengaluru: In a surprising development, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) has withdrawn its petition in the High Court of Karnataka, claiming that a recent Empowered Committee meeting touched upon the subject matter of the present petition. 

In its writ petition filed last year, the company had urged the court to direct the state government and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to complete land acquisition, including passing awards, taking possession and executing sale deeds for lands listed in their petition. 

NICE Ltd sought to withdraw the petition by highlighting "certain decisions" taken during the 15th Empowered Committee meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh in April. However, it prayed for the right to file a fresh case in the future should the need arise. 

It's reliably learnt that the Empowered Committee proceedings, which carried the signature of only the chief secretary, discussed subjects such as acquiring 8,000 acres for the Bidadi township, pending acquisition for the Mysuru Road-Hosakerehalli stretch as well as Sunkadakatte-Kadabagere, handing over of 8.1 acres of forest land, fresh acquisition of 10,000 acres for the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, among others. 

However, the proceedings appeared poorly drafted even though the project has been marred in controversy for well over a decade now. What reliable sources also underlined is that the proceedings neither took note nor considered various orders of the Supreme Court and the high court pertaining to the NICE project dispute. Nor were the findings and recommendations of both the house committee and cabinet sub-committee taken into account. 

However, the court allowed the withdrawal of the petition, holding that no prejudice would be caused to the respondents, as the petition had not yet been heard in detail and only sought a mandamus. It also gave liberty for refiling even as counsel appearing for an impleading applicant raised objections. 

The withdrawal of the petition comes at a time when the Congress government recently formed a cabinet sub-committee under Home Minister G Parameshwara to look into the affairs of NICE projects.

Subsequently, the sub-committee had sought the help of private experts to review the performance and the framework agreement with NICE Ltd along with studying ground realities. These developments show the government is keen on settling the disputes.