ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION No. 15511 - 14 of 2013 (GM – RES) PIL
BETWEEN:
Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and Others
Petitioners
AND:
Union of India and Others
Respondents
MEMO No.2
1. The Petitioners in the aforesaid matter most respectfully submit that:
2. The Petitioners have sought a continuing mandamus and monitoring by this Hon’ble Court into the efforts of the Government of Karnataka to remove the encroachment of public lands by private persons across the State of Karnataka. More than 13 lakh acres of Government lands are currently under such encroachment. The Petitioners herewith invite the attention of the Government of Karnataka and thereby, the gracious indulgence of this Hon’ble Court towards the issue of encroachment of forest lands across the State:
3. Please see: (in the Writ Petition)
a) Encroachment of Forest lands, Page 37-39, Volume – I;
b) Grounds in support of the Writ Petition, Page 50-62, (Forest Lands – Para VI Pg.54, Para VIII Pg 56, Para XVIII Pg 62), Volume-I;
c) Report of the Joint Legislature Committee (Interim Report-II), Encroachment of Forest lands in the vicinity of Bangalore, Pg.298-310, Volume –II;
d) Report of the Task Force, Forest Encroachments, Pg-494 to 496, Volume – III;
e) Report on ‘Encroachments of 10 acres or more by each encroaching person in the Chikmagalur forest’, Pg-839 to 866, Annexure L, Volume – IV;
f) Summary of the aforesaid report in e) so as to reflect ‘encroachments of 30 acres or more by each encroaching person in the Chikmagalur forest’, (ANNEXURE M1)
4. The petitioners have come across evidence of a very disturbing incident whereby the Hon’ble Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Sri Kagodu Thimmappa, is seen to have convened a meeting of various officers of the Government for the purpose of explicitly directing them to not proceed with the process of eviction of encroachers of forest lands in the several districts of the State.
5. The Hon’ble Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Sri Kagodu Thimmappa had conducted a meeting of legislators from the Malnad districts on 11-Jun-2013 at Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore and to this meeting were summoned, the senior officers of Forest, Revenue, and Social Welfare Departments. Further, this very meeting was also attended by the Hon’ble Minister for Forests. It is not in dispute that at this point of time, the various officers of the Government were engaged in the process of eviction of encroachers from forest lands. Such progress was evidently in the knowledge of the Hon’ble Speaker. The developments that took place in the said meeting are detailed below:
6. The petitioners have come into possession of a note prepared by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) and sent to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) on 29-Jun-2013. The said note reads as under: (A copy of this document is produced herewith and marked as Annexure M2.)
“It has been found that more than one lakh sixty one thousand acres of forest lands are under encroachment by private individuals. Major chunk of these encroachments are in Shimoga, Chickmaglur, Mangalore, Hassan and Canara circles. Many DCFs in charge of the division, under the guidance of respective Chief Conservator of Forests, have followed procedures contemplated in Sec 64A of KFA 1963 and succeeded in evicting the encroachments in some areas. They have ripped the area and raised seedlings for planting during current rains.
While many divisions have swung into action, Hon’ble Speaker has conducted a meeting of legislators from Malnad districts on 11-06-2013 in Vikas Soudha, which was also attended by Hon’ble Forest Minister and some senior officers of Forest, Revenue and Social Welfare Department. Legislators were united in opposing the action of the department in continuing the process of eviction. Hon’ble Speaker concluded that claims under FRA would be reopened and FRA Committee be reconstituted. He further added that boundaries would be jointly surveyed and deemed forest notification be revisited. He asked forest department not to continue with the encroachment eviction process, until above mentioned actions are finalized. This resulted in entire programme of eviction receiving a setback. Planting programme was obstructed and in many cases, even seedlings were pulled out. In Basavanahalli and Taverekere villages of Chennagiri Taluk, even protests were organized, which was backed by local MLA. As a result planting was prevented in the area. Belligere village of Bhadravathi Taluk received a bigger protest, which was also backed by MLA, Bhadravathi, and planting have remained suspended.”
7. The aforesaid description of the actual state of affairs in an internal document shared between high ranking officers of the Forest Department of the State is simply sufficient enough for any reasonable person to form a strong inference that the further process of eviction of forest lands in the State is fully likely to come in for further illegal interference by persons with power and influence.
8. The fact of the aforesaid illegal interference by the Hon’ble Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in the very presence of the Hon’ble Minister for Forests fits into the principal argument of these petitioners that regular instructions by this Hon’ble Court, acting on this petition, to the officers of the Government to remove encroachments of forest lands is highly unlikely to yield any concrete result unless the compliance with such directions is continuously monitored by this Hon’ble Court itself or by a Committee that this Court would convene for the purpose of such continuous monitoring.
9. It is also pertinent to note that, as on 11-Jun-2013, this very petition was receiving the due consideration of this Hon’ble Court and the fact of such consideration was also reported widely in the press and the media. Even otherwise, it is very unlikely that the Hon’ble Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the Hon’ble Forest Minister or the several MLAs were unaware of the fact that the subject of encroachment of forest lands had engaged the serious attention of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and of this Hon’ble Court, acting in public interest and in pursuance of several statutes that exist for the protection of forest lands.
10. Further, in the minutes of the co-ordination meeting held between the officers of the Forest Department on 12-Jun-2013, the impact from the illegal instruction given by the Hon’ble Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on the previous day was noted as under: (A copy of this document is produced herewith and marked as Annexure M3)
“After the briefing by PCCF (HoFF) officers expressed concern about safety of forest land in the State. CCF, Shimoga narrated an incidence of burning of two motor cycles of her staff, two JCB, while ripping encroachment land for eviction at Billigere in Kukkuvada Ubrani SF of Channagiri Range, Bhadravati Taluk, Bhadravati Division. Despite protests by encroachers, forest officials took possession of nearly 200 acres of aforesaid encroached forest land and ripped the area for planting during 2013 rains. CCF Shimoga also added that the encroachers, who were already evicted, started ploughing the area on very next day of meeting conducted by Hon’ble Forest Minister and are to take up agricultural operations such as tilling, sowing of seeds etc. This is a fallout of the meeting conducting by the Hon’ble Forest Minister on 11-06-2013. PCCF (Hoff) clarified that the matter would be referred to Government, but encroachment eviction process should not be halted.”
11. This Memo is being filed for the purpose of bringing to the notice of this Hon’ble Court, the real hurdles in the form of illegal interference and intervention by persons in position of power and influence whenever forest lands under illegal encroachment are sought to be cleared by well-intentioned officers in the Forest Department and the Government.
Bangalore
Date: 10-Feb-2014
Advocate for Petitioners
K.V.DHANANJAY
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