Karnataka amends laws to ease legal hurdles for Bengaluru tunnel project day after Adani meets CM

The Karnataka government on Monday passed two amendment Bills in both Houses of the State legislature to remove legal obstacles for the North-South Twin Tunnel road project in Bengaluru. The move comes a day after Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, which is the lowest bidder for the project, met Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar at his residence.

The amendments were necessitated by three Public Interest Litigations (PILs) pending in the High Court of Karnataka, which challenged the tunnel project on grounds of violations of two existing laws. Petitioners have condemned the amendments, calling them an attempt to regularise violations retrospectively.

The first amendment, The Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2026, grants deemed approval for all projects initiated after the commencement of the BMLTA Act, 2022, but before the notification of the BMLTA Rules, 2026, on July 3. The PILs argued that Section 19 of the BMLTA Act required the Authority's approval for all major urban mobility projects, which the tunnel road lacked. The amendment now provides such approval retrospectively.

Satya Arikutharam, an independent urban mobility expert, said the State government had notified BMLTA Rules in July, which included a rule granting deemed approval to pre-existing projects. He added that two PILs are already challenging the constitutionality of that rule. Fearing the court might strike it down, the government has now amended the Act itself, he alleged, describing the projects as "unscientific and car-centric".

The second amendment, The Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026, permits the alienation of up to 5% of park and garden lands for public purposes. The tunnel project requires one acre of Lalbagh land permanently and six acres temporarily for construction. The existing 1975 Act did not allow such use, a point flagged by the PILs.

Both Bills were cleared by the State Cabinet on Friday and passed amid protests by BJP and JD(S) members. They raised slogans such as "carpet for Adani and biscuit for Bengaluru public", accusing the government of favouring the industrialist in connection with the tunnel project.

N.S. Mukunda, one of the petitioners, called the amendments "deeply undemocratic" and said they would fight the matter in court. He also said they would petition the Governor not to grant assent to the Bills. He drew parallels to the Akrama-Sakrama scheme, which has also been challenged in court, arguing that such retrospective legislation undermines citizens' ability to win legal battles against government actions.

The petitioners have also raised other statutory non-compliances in the PILs, including the lack of approval from the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee and the project's absence from the Revised Master Plan 2015. The High Court on July 16, 2026, directed that any contract for the tunnel project would be subject to the outcome of the pending PILs, and the government must inform contractors in writing accordingly.

The amendments are now subject to the Governor's assent. The next hearing in the High Court is expected to address the validity of the new laws and their impact on the ongoing litigation.