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Friday, May 18, 2007
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Expressway: Karnataka seeks modification of court order

S. Rajendran

Government recently seized two files on the project

Bangalore: The Karnataka Government on Thursday submitted an interlocutory application before the Supreme Court seeking a modification of an earlier order with respect to the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project after the Government recently seized two important files relating to the project.

The Government submitted to the court that its order and an earlier order by the apex court (March 26, 1999) on a special leave petition against the judgment of the Karnataka High Court (in what is popularly known as the Somashekara Reddy case relating to the same project) were apparently based on "fabricated records" submitted to the courts on behalf of the Government.

Hence the prayer for a modification of the court orders and also grant of permission for a fact-finding inquiry into the episode involving some top State Government officials. The expressway project is being implemented by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).

The State Government in 2006 appointed a commission of inquiry headed by B.C. Patel to go into the gamut of the expressway project, including the various approvals pertaining to land allocation. The functioning of the inquiry commission was, however, suspended following serious charges levelled against the Government in the apex court, and the Government thereafter informed the apex court that it would not proceed with the inquiry.

Counsel for Karnataka Sanjay Hegde, in his application submitted to the Chief Justice of India and the other judges of the Supreme Court, said: "It is under extraordinary circumstances that the State of Karnataka is seeking a modification of the apex court order dated July 21, 2006, in view of the fact that the respondent State has recently seized two important original files relating to the implementation of the expressway project which were kept suppressed by some of the officials."

The application said: "The recovery of the two important files has shown that between July and September 1999 (after the dismissal of the special leave petition in the Somashekar Reddy case) by indulging in suppression of considerable previous records and by substituting false and fabricated records in that place, an additional 2,289 acres of land for sale in the toll road section and townships of the expressway project was illegally sought to be made available to the NICE company.

Substituted records

"It is these substituted records which have formed basis for the subsequent decisions of the Government. This additional saleable land of 2,289 acres is worth about Rs. 30,000 crore in present value in terms of the floor space index. It is in this light that it has become necessary for the State to seek modification of the July 2006 order of the Supreme Court in order to proceed against the officers of the State responsible for these acts and to also implement the directions of the apex court in its order of April 20, 2006, relating to the same project between the State of Karnataka and the All India Manufacturers Organisation.

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