Bengaluru | September 3, 2026
The Karnataka High Court has directed authorities to arrange a technical presentation on the proposed tunnel beneath Bengaluru’s Hebbal Lake, following concerns that the project could obstruct the lake’s water inflow, outflow and underground drainage network.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice KS Hemalekha issued the direction on Thursday while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Bengaluru residents Guruprasad R K, Rishvanjas Raghavan and Elizabeth Soumya. The petitioners have raised objections to the proposed short tunnel passing beneath the lakebed and its possible effect on stormwater drains feeding the water body.
The court said a presentation by an engineer would help address the concerns raised before it. Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty agreed to arrange a technical presentation covering the project’s impact on water movement into and out of the lake. The authorities will also provide a report on the proposed transfer of lake land and the statutory provision governing it.
The petitioners’ counsel, Advocate Sneha Nagaraj, told the court that the project was not located in the lake’s buffer zone but in the lake land itself. Of the 136 acres comprising the lake land, the Bangalore Development Authority is acquiring approximately 3.5 acres, according to the submissions recorded during the hearing.
The petitioners also argued that the Detailed Project Report acknowledged that the lake’s inflow could be affected. They further submitted that no independent hydrological, hydrogeological or environmental study had been conducted before the project was approved. These claims are part of the petitioners’ submissions and remain under consideration before the court.
The Advocate General rejected the apprehension that the project would harm the lake’s inflow or outflow. The court’s direction for a technical presentation will allow the authorities to respond specifically to the concerns about water movement and the relationship between the tunnel and the lake’s drainage system.
The hearing also included arguments in a separate batch of petitions challenging the proposed 16.7-km Bengaluru Twin Tunnel Road project. In that matter, the bench directed the authorities to submit the Geological Survey of India report concerning the Peninsular monument at Lalbagh Botanical Garden. Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, appearing for the petitioners in that case, had sought the report’s submission before the court.
For the Hebbal Lake matter, the next step is the technical presentation by an engineer and the submission of the report addressing the proposed transfer of land under the applicable statute.
