Karnataka high court: Can’t aerospace park come up on BIA land?

The high court on Wednesday asked the state government to explore whether the proposed Aerospace Industrial Area project could be accommodated in land already acquired for the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA).

Justice DV Shylendra Kumar questioned the state government in this regard.

The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) submitted that it had acquired 2,650 acres of land for the BIA and transferred 2,469 acres to the Karnataka State Industrial Investments and Development Corporation Limited (KSIIDC), through a sale deed on June 8, 2004.

The board said that it was not aware whether the entire land had been utilised for the airport project.

Seeking to know from the state government if the Aerospace Industrial Area project could be accommodated in land acquired for the airport, the judge adjourned the case to July 6.

The judge also came down heavily on the KIADB, and observed that the board had been created for evaluating the need for industrial growth and identifying areas for the same. It was responsible for ensuring that the lands were made available and distributed on an equitable basis, he said.

Meanwhile, two writ petitions challenging the land acquisition process for the Aerospace Industrial Area and BIAL were clubbed together on Wednesday.

In one of the petitions, Mathekar Unnissa had contested the acquisition of 12.5 acres of her land by KIADB; in the other, Muniyamma contended that the KIADB had not given her compensation for two acres of land acquired for the BIAL.