Mon Nov 25 16:14:47 UTC 2024: **Karnataka High Court Rejects Government Claim on 20 Acres of Private Land**
Bengaluru, November 25, 2024 – The Karnataka High Court has overturned a 2006 notification declaring 20 acres of private land as part of the Turahalli forest. The court ruled that the land, located in Mylasandra village, was never government property and therefore cannot be considered part of the forest.
The decision follows a 2022 survey, conducted by the state government at the court’s direction, which confirmed that the land in question was privately owned. The court criticized the government for opposing the findings of its own survey, calling such action “unacceptable.”
Justice M. Nagaprasanna noted that the survey, conducted with all stakeholders present, including forest department officials, clearly indicated no encroachment on forest land. Furthermore, historical documents dating back to 1933 corroborate the survey’s findings, showing that the land was granted to private individuals in 1931, and subsequently transferred through legal means before its acquisition by the current petitioners in 1982. The court pointed out that even when the Turahalli forest was notified in 1935, this 20-acre parcel was already privately held.
The court deemed the 2006 order by the Assistant Conservator of Forests, and its subsequent confirmation in 2014, to be erroneous. While acknowledging the proximity of the private land to the forest, the court emphasized that this proximity does not justify the inclusion of private land within the forest boundaries. The petition filed in 2015 by D. Muniraju and his five brothers, who purchased the land in 1982, has been granted.
First Piper 