Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court on Thursday put on hold the steel flyover after an undertaking given to it by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), agreeing to not start off the work on the controversial project for now.
The undertaking of BDA came during the hearing of a petition by Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) to stay the flyover project, taking into consideration the questions raised upon the constitutionality of the project.
The Rs 1,791 crore 7-kilometre flyover project has attracted much controversy in the past few weeks as it is pegged to cause a deep hole in the tax-payers' pockets, costing upwards of 260 crores for every kilometer it covers.
On October 28, it was stayed for four weeks by the National Green Tribunal, which is hearing a separate plea on environmental impact.
Though this stay exists, the NBF had approached the High Court questioning the legality of the project.
Around a month ago, the court had refused to stay the project on a petition by the same organization, saying that the project would be subject to the outcome of court.
On Thursday, NBF had again gone to court for a stay as "new documents have emerged in the public domain that show that the tender for this project was called in March but a public consultation held only in June."
With the BDA stating on record that it is not starting the project for now, the HC agreed to not pass directions per se.
"Though they have not said for how long they won't start the execution, this undertaking means they would have to come back to court with another application if they want to start work on it," said Sajan Poovayya, advocate for NBF.
NBF is an organization run by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar, who has been campaigning against the project this past month.
Comments
0 comment