Kumaraswamy hits out at BMIC project promoter

Kumaraswamy hits out at BMIC project promoter

Special Correspondent

Assails media reports about court notice as `baseless'

BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday hit out at Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), promoter of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, and said the Government would emerge triumphant in the cases related to the project pending before the Supreme Court.

He told presspersons here that the Supreme Court had dismissed as withdrawn the special leave petitions filed by NICE against the Government. Some sections of the media had reported that the apex court, after admitting a contempt plea against the State, had issued notice to the Government and the Chief Secretary. "This is baseless," he said.

NICE, in a petition, has contended that the Government failed to obey the order of the Supreme Court.

The Chief Minister recalled the adverse comments made by the managing director of NICE against his family and said he had adopted a "wait and watch " approach since the matter was before the court. To a question, he said official apathy was leading to an increasing number of petitioners at the Janata Darshan. Action would be initiated against "inefficient and lazy" officials not implementing programmes. A meeting of officials had been called on Friday and a decision on a reshuffle of officials would be taken after that.

`False information'

The Advocate on Record for the State in the Supreme Court, Sanjay Hegde, said media reports on the Supreme Court serving notices to top officials, including the Chief Secretary, "are incorrect and appear to have been the consequence of deliberate false information provided by NICE representatives. Perusal of the Supreme Court orders will reveal that most of the NICE petitions have not been entertained by the court. The contempt petition filed by NICE against the State Government has only been tagged to another earlier petition where too no notice has been ordered."

Mr. Hegde said that in sensitive matters "it is expected that esteemed newspapers would take due care to check the veracity of information provided by interested parties. I request all newspapers [not The Hindu ] that have carried this incorrect information to print a retraction with the correct facts. In the absence of such a retraction I would advise my clients to resort to appropriate legal remedies."