Bengaluru, 25 Sept

Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre ordered the issuance of showcause notices to the Forest Department officials for their alleged involvement in the illegal transfer of reserve forest land in the Peenya-Jalahalli area, valued at over Rs 10,000 crores to Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) in 1965.

These officials reportedly violated rules while selling the land.

Though the land was declared as forest on 11 June, 1886 in Mysore State, HMT allegedly sold the land illegally to many government departments, institutions, and private parties, violating the Forest (Conservation) Act, of 1980.

The Karnataka Forest Department claims that nearly 160 acres were sold off by HMT between 1997 and 2004 for over Rs 313 crore.

Khandre instructed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Department to take immediate action against those responsible.

He has mandated that all implicated officials respond to the notices within seven days, after which further action will be taken.

The issue stems from senior forest department officials filing a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking the denotification of forest. Under the Karnataka Forest Act of 1963, once land is designated as a reserve forest, any decision to declassify it as non-forest must be approved by both houses of the state legislature.

However, some officials bypassed these requirements, proceeding with the legal petition without informing the Forest Minister or obtaining Cabinet approval in 1965.

Khandre has raised concerns about the haste with which these actions were taken and emphasised the suspicious nature of the process. -Salar News