Bengaluru, 29 July (H.S.):In a strongly worded judgment, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday described the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project as appearing to be “one of the biggest scams in the State” and said it warranted an independent forensic investigation into alleged fraud and other criminal acts committed during its execution.

A Division Bench comprising Justice D.K. Singh and Justice T.M. Nadaf observed that the project was a fit case for an independent assessment by a special team of experts to conduct a forensic audit of its accounts. However, the Bench expressed doubts over the possibility of such an investigation, stating that the State itself appeared to be an accomplice by allowing project promoters, including Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), to allegedly profit through diversion of land, unauthorised commercial exploitation, illegal toll collection, destruction of lakes, and retention of vast land banks without paying compensation.

The court remarked that the BMIC project had served only to enrich its promoters while causing immense hardship to landowners and undermining public interest. It further observed that there was “nothing nice” about the NICE project except that farmers had been deprived of their lands and livelihoods for generations without receiving compensation guaranteed under Article 300A of the Constitution.

The observations came while dismissing appeals filed by NICE and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) against a July 4, 2025, order of a single judge. That judgment had quashed the acquisition of several acres of land after finding that KIADB had failed to pass compensation awards even after 23 years of issuing final acquisition notifications.

Rejecting NICE’s contention that the land acquisition issue had already been settled by the Supreme Court, the Bench clarified that the present dispute concerned the extraordinary delay in passing compensation awards, not the legality of the acquisition itself. Such an inordinate delay, the court held, rendered the acquisition proceedings legally unsustainable and upheld the single judge’s verdict.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman