BMIC: Firm girds up for legal battle

BMIC: Firm girds up for legal battle
Times of India

Bangalore: In Bangalore’s power corridors, the deadline set by the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project company for the Karnataka government to recall the review committee appears to have passed off without any fuss. But the company top honchos are preparing to take the legal plunge.

According to BMIC implementing company, NICE (Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises) officials, a meeting of a battery of legal experts along with senior management of the consortium including Ashok Kheny, managing director, NICE, was held to discuss the stand-off. The unanimous decision was to go ahead with the legal proceedings. NICE is understood to be ready with the notice to be served to the government.

The notice will be served after December 4, 30 days after the review committee was formed by the state government. Speaking to The Times of India from the US, Kheny said the notice will have a 60-day cure period which will allow the government to correct all defaults caused by it.

Past the cure period, the issue will move into an arbitration process which will be heard in London under the New York Convention of 1958. Arbitration is a foreign award and there would be no appeal allowed under this process. If the state government fails to meet the arbitration awards, the burden will fall on the Government of India, Kheny said.

“We are very keen to continue with the project. After having spent the prime of my career in this project (for 10 years right from 1994), I am emotionally attached to the project,” said Kheny from his Philadelphia home. Apparently, Baba Kalyani is supporting the project consortium’s insistence of not compromising their stand. “Baba Kalyani has told us to keep continuing the project work until it becomes physically impossible to go further. That way at least, we will leave the project at a decent stage for any other party to pick it up,” said Kheny.

The primary demands in the arbitration application 3will be to direct the Karnataka government to allow NICE to continue the project under the current Frame Work Agreement (FWA) and pay for the losses due to delays in implementation. If the government does not agree then, NICE will ask the government to pay up the damages plus future earnings which will run into several thousand of crores, according to Kheny.

It may be recalled that the review committee has been asked to delve into the allegations of land misuse and direct NICE on the way forward. NICE is opposing the move, saying the review committee was against the spirit of the FWA and has weakened its position with its project financiers.