Khandre terms sale of land by HMT as ‘illegal’; seeks recovery of 599 acres in Peenya-Jalahalli plantation in Bengaluru
Directs withdrawal IA filed for denotification before Supreme Court since Cabinet approval was not taken
The HMT Heritage Centre and Museum in Bengaluru. The 599 acres of land is valued at over ₹10,000 crore in the market.
| Photo Credit: file photo
Terming the sale of land by Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) at Jalahalli here as “illegal”, the State government has ordered taking back 599 acres of forestland on the company premises.
It has also decided to withdraw an interim application (IA) filed — without the State Cabinet’s nod — before the Supreme Court to denotifiy the land which is valued at over ₹10,000 crore in the market.
Forest Minister B. Eshwar Khandre has written to the Additional Chief Secretary, Forests, Environment and Ecology to recover 599 acres in the Peenya-Jalahalli plantation survey no. 1 and 2, which had been declared as reserve forest under Section 9 of the Forest Rules, 1878.
Though the land was declared as forest on June 11, 1886 in Mysore State, HMT sold the land illegally to many government departments, institutions, and private parties. About 281 acres of open area of the 469 given to HMT is being sought to be recovered immediately, a note from the Minister’s office noted.
It said that while the process of recovering the area under Section 64 A of the Forest Act had been ordered in the past, the Minister expressed dissatisfaction that forest officials had not acted on it.
He has also ordered an inquiry into the case. Process under 64 A had been completed for 201 acres that was sold by HMT and the PSU had not appealed against it, the Forest Minister noted.
Tracing the case, the note said that then Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru, Hanuman, transferred the land to HMT through a gift deed in 1963.
“However, there is no gazette notification for this. The land has not been denotified for any non-forest purposes. Under the Forest Act, there is no provision to give away forestland through a gift deed. Hence, the land sold by HMT is still forestland. The Supreme Court has also said that a forest is always a forest,” the note said, citing a Supreme Court ruling in the case of allotment of forestland in Sharavathi project rehabilitation.
Mr. Khandre directed the withdrawal of IA filed before the Supreme Court by the Forest Department in 2020 since it was filed without obtaining the Cabinet’s approval.
“This move has raised several suspicions. The IA has to be withdrawn immediately and the matter needs to be investigated,” the Minister said in his note.
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