Karnataka govt to reclaim forest land worth over Rs 10,000 crore from watchmaker HMT

Bengaluru: Karnataka government on Sunday ordered the immediate recovery of notified forest area, valued at over Rs 10,000 crore, from the state-owned watchmaker HMT Ltd. 

Forest, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre instructed the additional chief secretary of the Forest Department to take steps to reclaim 281 acres of notified forest land, located in Peenya-Jalahalli Plantation Survey Numbers 1 and 2. 

In a note sent to the department, he stated: "The land, declared as forest under Section 9 of the Forest Act, 1878, and notified in the gazette on June 11, 1896, during the reign of the Mysore Maharajas, is worth thousands of crores and is being illegally sold by the union government-owned HMT Ltd to various government departments, organisations and private individuals. Out of the 599 acres of forest land, 469 acres and 32 guntas were reportedly given to HMT, but 281 acres remain vacant. These should be immediately reclaimed. Legal action should be taken to reclaim the remaining land afterwards." 

"In 2020, the Forest Department filed an Interlocutory Application in the the Supreme Court seeking permission to denotify the land by HMT. This has raised several suspicions. The Interlocutory Application must be withdrawn immediately and investigations in this regard must be followed," Khandre noted. 

"Under Section 30(1) of the Forest Regulation Act, 1900, there is no legal provision for donating any forest land. Before granting any forest land for non-forest purposes, it must first be denotified and a gazette notification must be issued. However, it is reported that Bengaluru's then deputy commissioner, Hanuman, transferred the land to HMT through a donation deed in 1963. No gazette notification was issued regarding this donation deed, and the land was not denotified for non-forest purposes," Khandre stated. 

Khandre noted that the Supreme Court rulings on Sharavati victims’ rehabilitation and in the Godavarman case clarify that the land currently acquired by HMT and sold to various organisations, departments and private individuals is indeed forest land. Once a forest, always a forest. The environment is more important than citizen rights," he noted. 

Regarding the 201 acres of land sold by HMT, the Section 64A (of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1964) proceedings have been completed, and HMT has so far not filed an appeal against the order. Therefore, Khandre opined that the land held by HMT and the land it had sold were still considered forest land.