Apex Court Case Study

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them, and supported the claim of excess lands being given away. The Apex Court rejected both the claims of fraud and excess land being given and the Government was asked to pay costs of Rs. 5lakh to the company. The apex Court also asked the High Court to initiate criminal proceedings against the chief secretary and another officer of the state Government for not telling the whole truth in their sworn affidavits.
Whatsoever the Court did not take into consideration the substantive issues behind the allegations as to whether the land transferred was excess or more specifically if unwanted lands near Bangalore were turned over to the NICE Company, where the prices had raised to sky. The courts have gone by the earlier assurance of the Government has only a “minimum” amount of land was given to the company. In reality, inappropriate Governments need not act in public interest and may certainly abuse their “eminent domain” powers and aid and abet “eminent thievery”. Under these circumstances the courts can come to the rescue of the public interest, but in this case, unfortunately they did not take such a position. The case also raises the suspicion that the courts have blindfolded themselves to the facts on the ground, under the argument of “resjudicata”. This means that if some issues are settled in the court once, the same issues cannot be re-agitated. This principle was considered as applicable even to public interest litigation.
The BMIC project is based on the concept of internalizing the external benefits of a project to make it financially and economically viable. By this, the 111 km access controlled expressway can avail of the profits generated by developing five townships along the route, corporate and commercial centers nea...

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...been filed only to protect the interests of such influential persons. If that be so, the petitions of such busy bodies deserve to be thrown out at the threshold and in appropriate cases with exemplary costs." Once the motives became suspect, the decision was simple. It said, "Once it is held that the FWA is valid and proper, the extent of land required for the project forms part thereof in terms of schedule I and findings in this regard having become final and conclusive, it is not open to the state government nor to J C Madhuswamy and others, and not even to this court to reopen those issues once again." Thus it answered, "The second part of the second question in the negative, refraining from answering the first part of the secondquestion, as that would mean deciding the contractual disputes between the parties, which is not the scope of the present proceedings".51

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