Legal Challenge Clouds Bengaluru Short Tunnel And Mehkri Corridor

03 Aug 2026 CW Team

The two point five-km short tunnel from Esteem Mall to Baptist Hospital and a proposed elevated corridor to Mehkri Circle face legal uncertainty after approval without review by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA). The state government approved the projects on December 8, 2025, bringing them under the BMLTA Act and subjecting them to scrutiny alongside a proposed long tunnel from Hebbal to Silk Board. The concern is reliance on Rule 24, the savings clause, and whether it can lawfully exempt projects from authority review.

A central question is how the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) assumed exemption under Rule 24 before the draft BMLTA Rules were published on January 3, 2026, when the savings clause first entered the public domain. The final Rules were notified on July 2, 2026, after public consultation and criticism, and Rule 24 has been challenged in court. The Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), acting as BMLTA secretariat, reviewed and raised concerns on the long tunnel but later said those comments were not formal BMLTA determinations because the authority was not yet constituted.

The BMLTA Act came into force on March 27, 2023, to bring major urban mobility projects under its oversight. Critics say Rule 24 undermines that purpose, with a founder-member of Bengaluru Praja Vedike calling the provision self-defeating and saying it ran contrary to the authority's intention and was likely to be struck down. The BDA has acknowledged treating the projects as exempt under Rule 24.

DULT officials said delays in forming the BMLTA led the government to use an exemption clause and a government order in December to avoid project delays. The legal challenge to Rule 24 and the administrative sequence now place the short tunnel and the Mehkri elevated corridor in doubt. The outcome will depend on judicial or administrative review.

Infrastructure Urban

03 Aug 2026

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