The Hindu : Karnataka News : Hearing on petitions on BMIC project adjourned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 18, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Hearing on petitions on BMIC project adjourned

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, NOV. 17. Two petitions, one seeking a stay on all further operations of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, and the other praying for its expeditious completion, were filed in the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday.

The court ordered issue of notices to the respondents in both the petitions and adjourned further hearing on the matter.

In the first instance, two MLAs, J.C. Madhuswamy from Chikanayakanahali in Tumkur district, and Srirama Reddy from Bagepali in Kolar district, and S. Munne Gowda, a resident of Sanjaynagar here, sought a stay on all further operations of the project and a direction to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) not to create any further third-party rights on private and Government land acquired for the project pending disposal of the petition.

The petitioners alleged that there had been large-scale illegalities in the acquisition of land for the project.

Land that did not fall within the project area had either been acquired or notified. They said nearly 4,000 acres of excess land (both private and Government) were notified and acquired for the formation of peripheral roads and in the name of the corridor.

Besides, the Government had illegally transferred or leased 1,117 acres around Bangalore to NICE.

They said NICE had mortgaged Government land to raise Rs. 150 crores. This was not permissible and it amounted to using Government resources to raise funds.

Probe sought

The petitioners sought a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the acquisition of excess land, the agreement between NICE and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), the mortgage of Government land to raise funds and the deletion and denotification of lands.

They also sought direction to an independent agency to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the project and urged the court to call for all records.

The petitioners prayed for setting aside all acts of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning Authority and declare it as unconstitutional.

A Division Bench comprising the acting Chief Justice, S.R. Nayak, and Justice H.N. Nagamohan Das ordered issue of notices and adjourned further hearing of the petition.

Project completion

The same Bench ordered issue of notices to the State Government, KIADB and others on a petition by the All-India Manufacturers' Association praying for expeditious completion of the BMIC project.

The association said it was founded in 1941 by M. Visvesvaraya. It said the BMIC project was intended to decongest Bangalore and promote industrial and commercial growth. However, the progress of the project was tardy.

It sought a direction to the respondents from taking steps that would affect the execution of the project as originally envisaged. It said delay and stoppage, if any, of the project would contravene a High Court judgment of September 21, 1998 and a Supreme Court judgment of March 1999.

The Bench adjourned further hearing to December 14.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka