The State government on Thursday informed the High Court of Karnataka that it has requested the Centre to denotify stretches of national highways (NHs) 4 and 7, passing through Bengaluru’s central parts such as M.G. Road, in view of the construction of a bypass — NH-207 — which connects NH-4 and NH-7 without touching the city.
Government counsel made this submission while submitting a copy of the State’s July 31 response to queries sought by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in its July 24 letter, in which the Ministry sought more details on the State’s earlier communication for denotifying 704.54 km of NH in the State, which includes around 74.64 km of NH passing through Bengaluru city. Following this, Justice Vineet Kothari directed the Centre to expeditiously undertake the exercise necessary for verification of the information supplied by the State and issuing notification under Section 2 of the National Highways Act with regard to denotification of the roads passing through the city centre so that liquor licences of several bars and restaurants, situated in the upmarket areas of the city, could be renewed by the Excise Department.
Liqour outlets have moved High Court claiming that roads in the city centre cannot be classified as NH in law owing to construction of bypasses.