Acquisition of land for NICE road stayed

Acquisition of land for NICE road stayed

Staff Reporter
Two orders passed against the company in two petitions
BANGALORE: Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) on Thursday suffered a double blow when the Karnataka High Court stayed the acquisition of land in Konepana Agrahara on Hosur Road and in Gottigere off Bannerghatta Road.

Justice B.S. Patil passed the orders on two petitions. The petitioners in both the cases had challenged the acquisition of their land by NICE for the contentious Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Project (BMICP).

The project envisages the construction of an expressway between Bangalore and Mysore and several townships.

The project has run into controversy with land owners and farmers accusing NICE and its sister concern Nandi Economic Corridor Enterprise (NECE) of acquiring excess land.

In the first petition, Saraswathamma, Ravi Reddy and others of Konepana Agrahara challenged the change in the alignment of the peripheral road that is being constructed by NICE as part of the BMICP.

They said they had managed to collect several documents under the Right to Information Act which disclosed the illegal change in the alignment of the peripheral road.

They placed the documents before the court and urged it to direct NICE and others not to dispossess the owners of their land.

Mr. Patil stayed any action to dispossess the petitioners of their land. He ordered issue of notices to NICE and other respondents, including secretaries of several government departments, involved in the project.

Another stay order
In the other petition, Mr. Patil stayed the dispossession of Raja Datta’s land at Gottigere off Bannerghatta Road. He also ordered issue of notices to NICE and other respondents.

NICE is constructing a peripheral road adjacent to the Gottigere Lake and Mr. Datta alleged that NICE had illegally changed the alignment of the peripheral road.