Karnataka High Court asks State’s response to plea complaining about impact of tunnel road project to Hebbal lake

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered issue of notice to State government on a PIL petition questioning the project that envisages constructing a 2.2 km long three-lane, short transitory twin tunnel from Hebbal junction to the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries University (KVAFSU) at an estimated cost of ₹1,130 crore.

Also, the Court orally warned of staying the project if the Government and its authorities failed to file its response to the issues raised in the petition in writing before the next date of hearing on August 24.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha passed the order on the petition filed by Guruprasad R.K, a technocrat, Rishvanjas Raghavan, founder of Bengaluru Nava Nirmana Party’s youth wing, and Elizabeth Soumya, founder of Hebbal Nature Society.

Any study conducted?

Apart from responding to the issues raised in the petitions, the Bench directed the Government to file affidavit specifying if any study has been conducted on the impact of the project on Hebbal lake, and stating that whether studies have covered the question whether tunnel would cause any obstruction to lake’s inflow or outflow of water. The Bench also ordered issue of notice to M/s Rithwik Projects Pvt. Ltd., the contractor of the tunnel road project.

Contending that the project poses a severe threat to the ecologically sensitive Hebbal lake and has been approved by violating various provisions of the law, it has been pointed out in the petition that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) itself acknowledges the hydrological sensitivity of the area, noting groundwater movement and the need for a watertight structure near the lake.

Stating that the DPR admits that the tunnel will be just 8-12 metres from the lake boundary, the petition contends that this distance from the lake violates even the reduced buffer zones under the amended provisions of the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority Act.

Constitutional validity

Also, the petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2025, which drastically reduced buffer zones around lakes.

The amendment replaced a uniform 30-metre buffer with a graded system based on a lake’s size, allowing for buffers as small as 0 to 1 metre for smaller lakes and reducing the buffer to 30 metres only for lakes over 100 acres, the Court said while contending reduction in buffer zone is scientifically unsound and a deliberate attempt to facilitate the tunnel project. Karnataka High Court asks State’s response to plea complaining about impact of tunnel road project to Hebbal lake.

The litigation also challenges Rule 24 of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) Rules, 2026. The petition terms amended rule a ‘colourable exercise” that attempts to retrospectively validate projects, including the Hebbal tunnel, initiated without the mandatory prior approval from the BMLTA.

Impact assessment

The petitioners have also sought a direction to restrain the authorities from proceeding with the project until comprehensive and independent hydrological, hydrogeological, groundwater, stormwater, flood-risk and cumulative environmental impact assessments are conducted by competent expert agencies and disclosed publicly, while seeking direction for constituting an independent panel of experts to assess impact on Hebbal lake, groundwater recharge, drainage, flood resilience and mobility.