Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Feb 3: The letter addressed to the High Court judges by ex-prime minister H D Deve Gowda last month, is coming up before a divisional bench of the High Court for hearing on Monday February 2 in the form of a public interest litigation.

Relating to various allegations made in the letter against Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), including distorting of plans and sketches to dupe the exchequer to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore made by him, Gowda  has been served with a notice to appear either in person or through an advocate before the court on February 2.

The court will have a combined hearing of Gowda’s letter along with two other public interest petitions, one relating to the NICE road that passes through Gottiigere Lake filed by Vijay Raghavan and the other, relating to the collection of toll on NICE roads made by V Nagaraj JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy has confirmed that Deve Gowda will present himself in the court on Monday.  However, JD(S) spokesman Y S V Dutta said that a lawyer will represent Gowda at the court.

At the same time, counsel for NICE, Dushyant Dave has taken the stand that the letter written by Gowda amounts to contempt of court, as Gowda has raked up the issues already settled by the courts earlier. If the High Court refuses to treat the letter as contempt of court, NICE would approach the Supreme Court for the redressal of its grievances, he stated.