Karnataka - Bangalore

NICE asks State to follow court directive

Special Correspondent

After the Supreme Court order Government has not taken effective steps on the project issue: Kheny

Bangalore: Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Ltd. managing director Ashok Kheny on Monday requested Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to ensure that the judgment of the Supreme Court in April 20, affirming the directions issued by the Karnataka High Court last year, were implemented "in letter and spirit." Quoting from the judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Court, Mr. Kheny said it was clear that the Framework Agreement for the expressway project made it obligatory for the Karnataka Government to make available 20,193 acres of land. Of this, 6,956 acres belonged to the Government and 13,237 acres was private land that was to be acquired by the Government. The State Government had appointed an expert committee to go into the land issue in 2004 to review the project and the land requirement.

`No excess land'

The final report of the committee did not identify any "excess land" but left it to the KIADB to decide, Mr. Kheny said. The KIADB submitted the information to the High Court after it had delivered its judgment in this regard. Till now, 1,035 acres of private land was handed over to the company, as against 2,568 acres for which the Government had issued a notification.

The apex court had also asked KIADB to expedite land acquisition.

"Though six weeks have passed since the Supreme Court gave its judgment, the State Government has not taken any effective steps to help in the execution of the project. If the Government does not take any steps now, it may be construed it has wilfully failed to follow the directions passed by the Supreme Court and the High Court. We will be left with no alternative but to take appropriate steps available to us in law," Mr. Kheny added.

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