Govt. plans bill to expropriate BMIC

Defying SC orders, Karnataka works on Bill to grab country’s first private road project
The Indian Express

Bangalore-Mysore Expressway: If okayed, Streamlining of Karnataka Infrastructure Development and Land Reforms Bill 2006, inspired by Deve Gowda, will allow cancellation of 1997 Framework Agreement for BMICP

BANGALORE, JUNE 4:In a bid to defy the Supreme Court go-ahead on the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), the Karnataka government plans to bring in a Bill that will allow the state to take over the country’s first private infrastructure project from its implementer, the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).

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The draft Bill has been readied for a special legislature session starting tomorrow, said sources in the state Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

The move comes after the Supreme Court, in an April 20 order, took the Karnataka government to task and cleared the expressway project. It had run into numerous roadblocks put up by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and his Janata Dal (Secular) party, a partner in the previous Dharam Singh coalition.

The court not only slapped a Rs 5 lakh fine but told the state it had “malafide intention” when it appealed a Karnataka High Court ruling which favoured continuance of the project.

Now, inspired by Deve Gowda and brother H D Revanna, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy plans to pilot the Streamlining of Karnataka Infrastructure Development and Land Reforms Bill 2006. It aims to enable government takeover of large engineering projects in the state and names the BMICP specifically.

The Bill, if passed, would allow cancellation of the 1997 Framework Agreement for the BMICP, recently upheld by the Supreme Court. It would enable auction of land which Deve Gowda alleges have been acquired in excess of project requirement and abolish a special BMIC area planning authority, sources said.

“The Bill has been discussed and finalised at the level of the public works, law and parliamentary affairs department. We would like discussion on the Bill in the legislature soon. As of now there is, however, only the Office of Profit issue on the agenda for the special session,” said Basavaraj Horatti, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister from Gowda’s Janata Dal Secular party.

“We don’t think the Bill will be a violation of the Supreme Court ruling. I would not like to comment on that,” Horatti said.

A decision on the tabling of the Bill is likely to be taken at an emergency Cabinet meeting likely to be called ahead of the session tomorrow, sources said.

Kumaraswamy’s coalition partner, the BJP, has to play ball if the Bill has to receive approval in the Cabinet and the state Assembly. In the legislative council, the opposition Congress, who are in a majority, will have to support it.

“We have not been told about the Bill yet. It did not come up in a Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning. According to me, it would need a lot more time,” said senior BJP minister Ramachandra Gowda who attended the Cabinet meeting today.

The rapid move to table the Bill to take over the BMIC project is seen to be an announcement made by NICE managing director Ashok Kheny of the opening of a small nine km stretch of the project to traffic on June 16.

With the state government not handing over nearly 2,450 acres of land required for the completion of the first phase of the project, NICE has been forced to construct their roads without entry and exit ramps.

The Deve Gowda family has been opposed to the BMIC project, involving a 111-km Expressway and five special townships between Bangalore and Mysore.

At the behest of Gowda and his elder son Revanna, the Karnataka government had accused NICE of taking over excess land for the project and fraudulently signing the final deal for the Rs 2,250 crore project in 1997—though Gowda himself clinched the preliminary agreement in 1995.

The Supreme Court, in a ruling on April 20, had upheld acquisition of 20,193 acres for the project and the 1997 Framework Agreement following an appeal by the state against a similar High Court ruling.

Both the High Court and the Supreme Court stated that the project was being stalled at the behest of Gowda and Revanna.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, the Karnataka government has been creating the impression that it is moving towards a review petition. While paying a Supreme Court imposed cost of Rs five lakh to NICE on May 26, the government said it was reserving its right to file review/curative petitions.