Karnataka: Special court takes up suo motu case of resorts on government land

The Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Special Court has sought details of encroachment of government land in Bengaluru, Hassan, Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada, Chamarajanagar and Mysuru districts.

The court took up a suo motu case based on reports about large-scale encroachment of government and forest land which are increasingly used for commercial purposes, including construction of resorts, hotels and homestays.

In its notice to the deputy commissioners, the court said 75,000 acres of land in Bengaluru has been encroached of which 6,000 acres have been grabbed in the name of resorts.

It listed the illegal homestays and resorts in BRT Tiger Reserve (Chamarajanagar), Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves, illegal resorts in shola forests of Sakleshpur, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada districts as major issues taken up in the suo motu case.

“The court has taken up the matters suo motu and decided to hold an inquiry,” it said.

The court directed the authorities to look into each case of encroachment, prepare a detailed report along with a survey map and submit the details of encroachers. A consolidated report of the encroachments in the district have to be submitted to the court, the order said.

As per the information provided by the government, about 10 lakh acres of government land and 2 lakh acres of forest land in Karnataka is under encroachment. Some of the encroachers have claimed ownership under ‘bagair hukum’, a scheme launched to regularise land holding of the landless poor.