BENGALURU: A division bench of the Karnataka High Court upheld the order passed by a single judge that had set aside acquisition of several acres of land for the controversial Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project. “It appears that this BMICP may be one of the biggest scams in the State of Karnataka and demonstrates how a State, which is the trustee of natural resources on behalf of the citizens, can allow private interest to flourish in utter violation of the constitutional mandate and law to the detriment of the environment, ecology and against public interest for questionable considerations,” the bench observed.
A division bench of Justice DK Singh and Justice TM Nadaf made these scathing remarks in the order pronounced on Wednesday, dismissing 92 appeals filed by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited (NICE), Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) and others, challenging the single judge’s order of July 4, 2025.
The single judge had set aside acquisition of several acres of land with an observation that more than 23 years have passed since notifications were issued between 2008 and 2009, and awards have not been passed by the KIADB, depriving owners of the use and occupation of agricultural lands and losing their livelihood.
Dismissing the appeals, the bench said the NICE project has done nothing but benefit its proponents in an astronomical way at the expense of landowners, and public interest in general. This is a fit case where an independent assessment and investigation be carried out by a special team of experts by conducting a forensic audit of its accounts and for committing fraud and other criminal acts of commissions and omissions, the court added.
The court said: “We doubt such an exercise will ever be taken up as the State itself is accomplice in allowing the project proponents to earn huge profits illegally by diverting lands against the Framework Agreement (FWA), capitalising assets, drying up lakes, collecting huge toll in violation of the FWA and sitting over the huge land bank without payment of compensation etc.”
The court also observed that facts disclosed would clearly suggest that there is nothing about the NICE project except that farmers have been robbed of their lands and livelihood for generations, without payment of compensation. NICE, which has constructed only 5km of expressway in the past 25-26 years, is sitting on a huge land bank of more than 20,000 acres, and the land and assets have been alienated and capitalised to its benefit against a Supreme Court judgment, and in violation of the FWA terms, the court said.
NICE contended that the government violated the FWA by not giving the extent of land required under the agreement, resulting in non-completion of the project for 25 years. However, the court said this contention is not only false but incorrect, which is evident from the affidavit filed by the state in a contempt petition that 554 acres of excess land had been handed over to NICE. “We fail to understand why the state is not reviewing the project or cancelling the same, as NICE has utterly failed in its objective of developing five townships and an expressway of around 111km, and creating opportunities for employment and growth,” the court noted.
NICE contended that permitting repeated litigations would seriously impede implementation of public infrastructure projects, but the court did not accept it, saying the delay complained of by landowners is not of a few months or few years.