Babu pays for Gowda-Kheny spat

Babu pays for Gowda-Kheny spat
Thursday August 2 2007 13:23 IST

BANGALORE: After losing almost all the legal battles to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) executing the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project, the state government has punished a senior officer for transferring land to the NICE company. The government recently ordered suspension of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) secretary K Sridhar from service for transferring 168 acres of land to the NICE “in defiance of the State government.”

The government order stated: K Sridhar has been suspended pending departmental inquiry for his uncalled-for action to register some KIADB acquired land around Bangalore City in favour of NICE.

As per the framework agreement between the state government and the NICE entered in 1997, the former was obliged to provide the necessary land to the latter for executing the project which included developing townships along the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway.

KIADB was the agency to acquire lands and transfer those lands to the NICE. Amidst controversy over the project following political developments in the state, the KIADB had created a confusion by stating that the land transfer should be done only on “lease cum sale” basis and not on “absolute sale deed” basis.

Meanwhile, the supreme court, on a petition by NICE, ordered that the project should be expedited and it upheld the framework agreement. As late as October 13, 2006, the then additional chief secretary and principal secretary (PWD) - P B Mahishi (current chief secretary) had directed the KIADB to handover land to the project company (NICE).

Subsequently, even the KIADB passed a resolution to transfer the lands to NICE. Sridhar had transferred the land near Kengeri to the NICE.