Decisions modified to favour NICE

Decisions modified to favour NICE

Krishnaprasad

‘High degree of public interest involved in BMIC’ cited as reason

Bangalore: While the attention of the State is on the Assembly elections, the Executive Committee, led by Governor Rameshwar Thakur, has quietly taken a major decision that favours Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICE) as the implementing agency of the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

The Executive Committee (which acts as the Cabinet during the President’s Rule), in its meeting on April 25, 2008, has overturned the August 30, 2007 decision of the government under H.D. Kumaraswamy to cut NICE out of the BMIC project and invite fresh bids in a global tender to implement the project.

The Executive Committee’s order states that it is “partially modifying” four earlier Cabinet decisions that imposed severe restrictions on the right of NICE to alienate any portion of the project land. It has also authorised the Empowered Committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, to take immediate steps to implement the project in association with NICE for the “amicable settlement of disputes” and submit its proposals to the Executive Committee.

These decisions have virtually nullified the global tenders invited by the Public Works Department on September 17, 2007 based on the decision of the previous government. The Supreme Court, however, acting on NICE’s petition had, on September 27, 2007, stayed the tender process. However, all these have not been made public so far by the Executive Committee.

According to highly placed sources in the State Secretariat, the decision of the Executive Committee taken in a “hurried manner” after the declaration of elections with less than a month before a new government assumed office, has raised many eyebrows.

Following the Executive Committee’s decision, the Government, on April 30, issued a direction to the Empowered Committee to hold its 12th meeting for taking further action on the project. On the same day (April 30), the Government (through the Public Works Department) issued a notice convening a meeting of the Empowered Committee on May 7.

The reasons cited by the Executive Committee for modifying the earlier Cabinet decisions are the “high degree of public interest involved in the completion of the Peripheral Road and Link Road from the point of view of easing the traffic problem of Bangalore city and the pendency of a contempt petition filed by NICE before the Supreme Court against the State.”

However, the sources said that the next hearing on the contempt petition is scheduled to come up only in the second week of August and as per the official records, the Government is yet to receive notice from the Supreme Court, which has given six weeks’ time from the date of receipt of notice to the Government to respond to the petition.