NICE fraud: URA

NICE fraud: URA
New Delhi, DHNS:
Kannada writer and Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy on Monday submitted before the Supreme Court through a public suit, that a big fraud has been committed on the public by allowing Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Ltd to take more than Rs 30,000 crore worth of excess land from the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP).


Appearing for the writer, senior advocate M N Krishnamani and advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted that the Karnataka government had been flouting the agreements on the original framework agreement (FWA) signed between the authorities and the Ashok Kheny-controlled NICE.

The petition said, “The Apex Court should ensure that the BMIC project is implemented, as conceived originally and upheld in Somshekhar Reddy case.’’

The court said that the petition would be heard on September 17, along with another petition pending before the court on the same issue.

The Karnataka government, working in collusion with NICE Ltd, changed the quantity of land to be returned to THE State Government as per the terms of the FWA from 14255.7 acres to 11966 acres, thereby giving 2289 acres of extra land to NICE in a single stroke.

The Karnataka HC, in a 1998 judgment in the Somashekhar Reddy case held that the company was entitled to sell only 45 percent of the available land in five townships and the roads would be handed over to the government after lapse of the lease period.