Garuda Mall on Lokayukta radar

Garuda Mall on Lokayukta radar
Bangalore, DHNS:
The State Government on Thursday issued notifications asking the Lokayukta to probe the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP)-Garuda Mall joint venture and the approval given by the previous JD(S)-BJP government to a Mumbai based private firm to set up an SEZ in Nandagudi.


The BJP government has been alleging irregularities in awarding the Garuda Mall contract to Maverick Holdings and Investments Private Limited.

The terms of reference include whether the tender process for the project was taken up as per the norms, whether the company is remitting BMP’s share of revenue as per the contract, financial implications due to the contract, whether there had been any administrative lapses in the decisions taken by the BMP and whether there had been any irregularities in the bidding process. The Nandagudi SEZ had been a major bone of contention between the JD(S) and the BJP while they were running a coalition government.

While the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy took special interest in promoting the project, the BJP ministers were opposed to it.

Mumbai-based SKIL Infrastructure Limited was given the approval to establish an SEZ in Nandagudi on 18,507 acres of land spread over 36 villages. The project cost is estimated to be Rs 17,909 crore. The company also intended to establish an eight-lane elevated expressway of about 30 kms connecting the SEZ to the Bengaluru International Airport.

The BJP government now alleges that Kumaraswamy took some unilateral decisions to favour the project at cabinet meetings held on June 15, 2007 and October 5, 2007. The October 5 cabinet meeting was held after the BJP withdrew support to the government over the issue of transfer of power. The terms of reference for the probe include whether Government of India SEZ norms have been followed, whether facilities extended to other SEZs are extended to SKIL Infrastructure and whether there were any “mal-transactions” while giving the approval.