Not very NICE

Not very NICE
TN Ninan, Business Standard

Most people would have thought that once the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, being executed by Nandi Infrastructure Enterprises (NICE), the government of Karnataka would start co-operating. It would, for instance, start releasing the land required for the 111-km expressway as well as for the 41-km semi-circular peripheral road ringing Bangalore and the five townships between Bangalore and Mysore. Yet, it now appears that the state government is determined to simply take over the project. Even worse, as a news report in The Indian Express shows, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has 47 acres of land right next to the expressway, half of which was apparently donated to him by an aunt in 2004-05, around the time that his father, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, began opposing the project, arguing that it had been allotted land in excess of what it required. Ironically, it was none other than Mr Deve Gowda who as the state’s chief minister had cleared the project in the mid-1990s. The Express report says the chief minister has land close to the highway, in places where two of the proposed townships are to come up. While that in itself makes the land very valuable, the proposal to take over the project will also abolish the BMIC Area Planning Authority, which currently regulates the use of land in the area, including Mr Kumaraswamy’s land. Once this is done, the state is free to decide which areas are to be developed and which not.

This is, of course, not the first time that NICE has had a problem with the authorities. The project was begun in 1995, but till early 2005 it had got less than half the land it required. Indeed, the land that was supposed to be part of the project was de-notified. At one point, the government even planned to build another road, parallel to part of NICE’s road. A committee, set up last year to review the land required for the project, concluded it didn’t need so much land, and the head of the committee got a Padma Shri award shortly afterwards. At one stage during the bitter fight between the state government and NICE, the state government sought legal opinion on whether the project could be modified. When it was pointed out that this would leave the government open to claims for damages, the state said that it had detected fraud and misrepresentation, so the initial agreement was null and void, and therefore there was no question of any claim for damages. This claim, sworn on oath by the state’s chief secretary, omitted certain critical facts, and the Karnataka High Court came down heavily on the government for misrepresentation. While the Centre can claim a certain amount of helplessness in matters pertaining to a state government’s powers, when things reach such a stage that even the Supreme Court’s orders are sought to be bypassed, surely it is time to intervene?

In any case, following the latest disclosure, it would be easy for a concerned citizen or group to initiate public interest litigation, arguing that the state government is functioning for collateral reasons. While it would be improper to predict what judges might think of such a case, it would not be difficult to argue the point from a purely logical perspective. So there is a measure of risk that the state government will have to eat humble pie. Far better then to retrace steps voluntarily, rather than risk fresh judicial censure.