SC dismisses Karnataka govt's plea on BMIC project

The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by the Karnataka government seeking a review of its verdict clearing the Rs 2,250-crore Bangalore-Mysore Express Highway project.

The court by its April 20 judgement had also imposed an exemplary cost of Rs 5 lakh on the Karnataka government for bringing the issue before it. The review petition was dismissed by a Bench comprising Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice S B Sinha and Justice Dalveer Bhandari.

The apex court upheld the Karnataka High Court's judgement which favoured the continuance of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, saying the appeal by the state government was filed with "malafide intention."

The court said the Rs 5 lakh-costs imposed on the Karnataka government and its institutions would be paid to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited (NICE), the developer which had entered into an agreement with the state in 1997 for executing the project.

The Bench also imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on JD(U) MLA J C Madhuswami and Rama Reddy of the CPI and others who appealed against the High Court's judgement of May 3, 2005.

The High Court gave a green signal to the project aimed at promoting an integrated infrastructure corridor between the two cities consisting of residential, industrial and commercial facilities covering 20,139 acres of land.