Day after Gautam Adani meets D.K. Shivakumar, Karnataka government amends two laws to clear legal hurdles for tunnel road project

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Three PILs in the High Court of Karnataka challenging the tunnel road project had contended that the project was in violation of these two laws. | Photo Credit: File photo

A day after Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group, which has emerged as the lowest bidder in Bengaluru’s North-South Twin Tunnel project , visited Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar at his residence , the Karnataka government passed Bills amending two laws in both Houses of the State legislature on Monday (August 24) to clear legal hurdles for the project.

Three PILs in the High Court of Karnataka challenging the tunnel road project had contended that the project was in violation of these two laws. The move has drawn strong condemnation from the petitioners arguing that this amounted to “regularising violations in retrospect”.

On Monday, the legislature passed The Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which gives deemed approval for all projects initiated after the commencement of the BMLTA Act, 2022, and before the notification of the BMLTA Rules, 2026, on July 3. A batch of three PILs in the High Court had contended that as per Section 19 of the BMLTA Act, 2022, the Authority had to approve all major urban mobility projects in Bengaluru and the tunnel road project did not have this approval. Now, as per the amendment Bill, the project will be “deemed approved”.

Satya Arikutharam, an independent urban mobility expert, said that the BMLTA Act, 2022, was passed in 2023, but the Authority was not constituted for years. “When citizens challenged the tunnel road project for not being approved by BMLTA, as per Section 19 of the BMLTA Act, 2022, the State government notified BMLTA Rules, 2026, on July 3, which comprised Rule 24 that gave deemed approval to projects prior to the notification of the rules. There are two PILs challenging the constitutionality of Rule 24, apart from the three PILs challenging tunnel roads. Fearing the court may strike down Rule 24, the government has now amended the Act itself to accord approval for all the unscientific car-centric projects,” he alleged.

Likewise, The Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 , which allows alienation of 5% of parks and garden lands for public purposes, was also passed. The tunnel road project will need one acre of Lalbagh land, while six acres will be used temporarily for construction. The Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, 1975, doesn’t allow this and the three PILs flagged the tunnel road as violating this law by taking over Lalbagh land.

Both bills were cleared by the State Cabinet on Friday and passed in both houses of the legislature on Monday, amid protests by BJP members. During the passage of the Bill, BJP and JD(S) members raised slogans such as “carpet for Adani and biscuit for Bengaluru public”, accusing the government of moving closer to Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani in connection with the tunnel project.

N.S.