The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : NICE: State opposes contempt case

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NICE: State opposes contempt case

Staff Reporter

KSPCB Appellate Authority is not a court, says NICE
‘Contempt of court is only in Supreme Court’

BANGALORE: The State Government on Friday submitted to the Karnataka High Court that contempt of court proceedings against Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), the promoters of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), is not maintainable.

The government advocate made this submission before a Division Bench comprising Justice V.G. Sabhahit and Justice Ravi Malimath.

The Bench was hearing three contempt petitions against NICE and it sought to know from the Government its stand on the issue.

While the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has filed a contempt petition against NICE for going ahead with the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project despite a stay order by the KSPCB Appellate Authority, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (DSS) along with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Aparna-Citizens Service Forum has filed another contempt petition against NICE for violating the conditions in the framework agreement and making deviations in taking up the project.

The third contempt petition is by the Pramod Layout Citizens Welfare Association, which has alleged that NICE has altered the alignment of a Link Road to ensure that it overlaps several areas of the layout.

When the matter came up, the counsel for KSPCB said NICE had gone ahead with the project although the KSPCB Appellate Authority had passed an interim order directing the parties — KSPCB and NICE — to maintain status quo.

He submitted that the KSPCB had asked NICE not to go ahead with the project after it detected certain deviations. The matter then came up before the High Court which had remitted the matter back to the KSPCB Appellate Authority.

Although the authority had passed orders, NICE disobeyed it and continued with the construction of the project.

The counsel for NICE said the authority was not a court and that there would not be any contempt if its order was disobeyed. The authority had not passed any interim order. Besides, a Division Bench order of the High Court continued and the company had gone ahead with the project because of it.

In the second petition, DSS and Aparna said NICE had deviated from the original framework agreement although the High Court and Supreme Court had in several cases upheld its validity.

The counsel for petitioners said the directions given by the High Court on the project in the Somashekara Reddy case (a PIL against the project which was dismissed) were being systematically violated. Lands in excess of what was required for the project was sought to be given to NICE, he said.

NICE refuted the allegations and said all these charges had been adjudicated by the High Court and Supreme Court when writ petitions were filed against the project. It said there was no contempt and urged the court to dismiss the petition.

The Bench then sought to know from the Government its stand on the contempt. The Government said the framework agreement was in 1998 and if a contempt petition had to be filed, it should be done as per Section 20 of the Contempt of Court Act within a year.

The Bench then posted the case for Monday.

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