“There is nothing nice about the NICE project, except that farmers have been robbed of their lands and livelihood of generations without payment of compensation as mandated under Article 300A of the Constitution of India. The NICE project has done nothing but benefit its proponents in an astronomical way at the expense of the landowners and the public interest in general,” the bench observed. Moreover, the court had accepted the landowners’ contention that several acquired plots were never utilised for the core components of the BMIC project. Challenging the ruling, NICE argued that once final acquisition notifications were issued and possession taken, ownership vested absolutely with the state. NICE was established as the special-purpose vehicle to execute the project.