Friday, June 16 2006 14:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Seeking to wash its hands off, Karnataka government yesterday (June 15, 2006) blamed the bank concerned for the 'mess up' for dishonouring of a cheque for Rs five lakh issued by it to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).

"The reason for the mess up is on part of the bank and the government is in no way responsible for non-payment of the cheque," PWD Principal Secretary P B Mahishi said, a day after government faced embarassment over the dishonoured cheque.

The cheque was issued by the government in compliance with a Supreme Court order on payment of fine to NICE, executors of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, whose fate was now hanging in balance with the government proposing to take it over.

Mahishi, in a statement here, said NICE had presented the cheque for payment at the treasury counter of State Bank of Mysore (SBM), Shivajinagar, through Canara Bank and PWD learnt about the cheque being dishonoured on June 14.

The department, he said, immediately contacted SBM and inquired about the non-payment of the cheque. The bank had in turn replied that "This has happened due to misunderstanding at the time of reconciliation and NICE company has been asked to re-present the cheque for payment".

Mahishi said when the PWD came to know that the cheque had not been re-presented for payment, it immediately made payment through a Demand Draft under due acknowledgement.

"A detailed investigation about the lapse on the part of the bank was underway and the bank would be submitting a report in this regard to the government shortly," he said.