Date:20/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/20/stories/2008122051880500.htm

New Delhi

Decide land acquisition in three months: court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Karnataka High Court to decide within three months a petition related to acquisition of land for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) Project.

The public interest project is being executed by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).

The order was passed by a Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan on a petition filed by NICE challenging the Karnataka High Court’s interim order which stayed the acquisition of more than 7.42 acres of land for the project.

The land on the outskirts of Bangalore belongs to M. Nagabhushana.

NICE counsel Dushyant Dave said that the State Government was not complying with the Supreme Court judgment which had asked the State Government to give possession of the land according to the framework of agreement (FWA) executed between the State and NICE.

Refuting claims of Mr. Dave, counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Karnataka Government, said that the State Government was ready to hand over 20,192 acres of land to NICE as envisaged in the FWA.

Besides, he said the village in which the land in dispute was situated was not included in the original project plan.

The High Court had passed the interim order in September after Mr. Nagabhushana had sought stay on the acquisition of his land on the ground that such acquisition was illegal and arbitrary. — PTI