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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE
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
SYNOPSIS AND LIST OF DATES
The short but important question of law that arises for the
consideration of this Hon’ble Court in this case is:
Is it lawful for our executive Government to
deliberately, knowingly and intentionally refuse to act
when it is provided with specific, definite and actual
information that certain Government lands have been
encroached upon by private persons through
clandestine, illegal, manipulative, corrupt or fraudulent
means?
The Petitioners are filing this writ petition solely in public
interest. As members of the public, they are aggrieved with
a fully provable fact of extensive and unbridled
encroachment of public lands across the State of Karnataka.
It is very shameful to the rule of law and to the notion of
governance that such fearless and continuing
encroachment is not merely limited to lands far and away in
the forests but is actively evidenced within Bangalore and
its surrounding belt.
Summary: The issue of massive encroachment of public
lands has frequently engaged the attention and anger of the
State Legislature – leading to proper identification of the
encroached lands and little else. A Joint Legislature
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Committee of the bi-cameral Legislature of Karnataka was
even set up to examine and to look into all aspects of
encroachment of public lands. This committee went about
its task and reported, after very extensive examination, that
there was simply no administrative will in the State of
Karnataka to recover the massive extent of encroached
lands. Was there any impediment in terms of the law? None.
Numerous statutes already exist in that regard and the only
reason for such administrative inaction was a reluctance to
bother a few powerful members of the society and of
course, the land mafia which is always available on call to
make matters worse.
On the advice of the aforesaid Joint Legislature Committee
that a task force should be established to co-ordinate with
the various departments to ensure that encroached lands
are identified without any fear and favour and that the
recovery of such lands is effected within the scheme of
existing laws, a ‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and
its Protection’ was duly established by the Government of
Karnataka. Perhaps, our executive Government might have
intended that, as is the case with numerous such
commissions, that this Task Force should while away its
time and public money and not accomplish its stated
objective. Unfortunately for the Government, this
committee came to be headed by one Sri
V.Balasubramanian, retired Additional Chief Secretary,
Government of Karnataka. Perhaps, the said Sri
V.Balasubramanian could have taken a clue from the
various past committees that had largely gone about their
task in merely ceremonious ways. He did not. He must have
taken the motto ‘Government’s work is God’s work’ that one
cannot miss on any Government building in Karnataka quite
literally. He went about his work and then prepared a report
and called it as ‘Greed and Connivance’. His work sent a
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chill into the heart of all the encroachers as rapid progress
came to be witnessed and public lands, at last, began to
come back into the control and custody of the Government.
And, the Government then took the all too predictable step
of disbanding the task force altogether. However, the
Petitioners believe that the due administrative protocols
were not followed in the matter of such disbandment and
that the initiative was taken merely by the then Revenue
Minister though lands of a dozen other departments were
also the subject of encroachment. Further, the cabinet is
neither said to have discussed nor approved such
disbandment.
Before the petitioners proceed to lay down the findings of
the said Task Force, they would like to clarify that they are
not of the view that the standard of Government conduct in
say, the western world or some other foreign country is to
be imposed on our Government. Rather, it is that, without
any recourse to how any other country might have
safeguarded its own property, we only need to see how and
to emulate the conduct of other cities in India that have
effectively curbed encroachment of public lands. Turning
further inward, the petitioners further submit that more
than 20000 acres of lands are in the control and custody of
the Defence establishment in the Bangalore Urban District.
No part of these 20000 acres of defence lands has been
encroached upon. In and of itself, this finding does
emphasize one aspect – that the evil of encroachment of
public lands in the State of Karnataka is not incurable or
without a remedy. The defence establishment already
possesses that cure – ‘plain vigilance’. So, having been
cured already in one ‘person’, the evil at hand is most
amenable to a cure whenever the same antidote is
administered again. It is the most humble expectation of
these petitioners that someday in the foreseeable future,
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the same ‘plain vigilance’ would also be witnessed in the
various agencies under the control of the Government of
Karnataka with respect to public lands under its care and
custody.
On 17-Jun-2006, the Legislature of Karnataka had appointed
a Joint Legislature Committee comprising of 14 MLAs and 6
MLCs under the chairmanship of Sri A.T.Ramaswamy to
inquire into and submit a detailed Report on encroachment
of Government lands in Bangalore and its adjoining areas.
After the aforesaid detailed enquiry, the JLC submitted two
reports on 01-Feb-2007 and 26-Jul-2007 to the Karnataka
Legislature.
The interim and final JLC reports conclude that various State
instrumentalities such as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara
Palike which is nothing but the Bangalore Municipal
Corporation, the Bangalore Development Authority, City and
Town Municipal Councils etc., have grossly and knowingly
failed in their legal and statutory duty to protect
Government and public lands. Instead, these bodies have
found it convenient to express helplessness and have in
many cases, acted as active participants, abettors and
promoters in land grabbing crimes in tandem with members
of organised land grabbers.
Although the JLC did submit very elaborate and detailed
reports, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly came to be
dissolved in 2007 and the JLC accordingly, stood defunct
consequent to the imposition of the President’s rule in the
State. Later, upon formation of a freshly elected
Government, no immediate action was taken to implement
the recommendations of the JLC.
Thereafter, in order to effectively implement the
recommendations of the JLC, a dedicated body called as the
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‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection’
was constituted under the chairmanship of the former
Additional Chief Secretary, Sri V.Balasubramanian, IAS
(Retd.). This was done through a Government Notification
Vide G.O. No.RD 556/LGB/2009 dated 19-Sept-2009 which
did specify that as part of its work, this Task Force was
required to issue directions to the several Government
departments and statutory bodies to take specific and
appropriate action to remove encroachments. Unlike the
objective of the JLC which was confined to address the
encroachment of public lands in Bangalore and its
surrounding areas, the jurisdiction of this Task Force was
extended to cover the entire territory of the State of
Karnataka and to all Government lands including lands
vested in statutory and local bodies.
The studied observations of the Task Force, in the words
and analysis of the petitioners, as well of the Joint
Legislature Committee are as under:
Approximately 11 lakh acres of public lands in the State of
Karnataka have been encroached upon. This is not a bare
guess but is the product of a careful verification,
examination, inspection and of course, identification. In
many cases, the precise extent of encroachment, the
circumstances proving encroachment, the names, address
or identities of the private parties who have encroached,
the officers of the Government who have facilitated such
encroachment and the mode and means by which such
encroachment came to fruition has also been documented.
11 Lakh acres of lands, in perspective, is this – the
Bangalore Urban District measures 741 Square Kilometres.
11 Lakh acres of lands is equivalent to 4451 Square
Kilometres. In effect, the encroachment of 11 lakh acres is
six times the size of the entire ‘Bangalore Urban District’.
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Of the 11,00,000 acres (Eleven Lakh acres) of
encroachment upon Government lands, 1,65,796 acres
(One Lakh Sixty Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety
Six acres) are forest lands. Of this 1,65,795 acres (One Lakh
Sixty Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety acres) of
forest lands, 1,04,497 acres (One Lakh Four Thousand Four
Hundred and Ninety Seven acres) are in the ecologically
sensitive Western Ghats in three districts alone.
Applying the Government published guidance values (which
are often conservative) wherever appropriate, the value of
such encroached upon lands has been estimated by the
Government Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its
Protection to be around Rs.1,95,000 Crores (Rupees One
Lakh Ninety Five Thousand Crores Only).
In perspective, a sum of Rs.1,95,000 Crores (Rupees One
Lakh Ninety Five Thousand Crores Only) is far larger than
the loss estimated to have been caused by corruption
involved in the 2G spectrum scam and the illegal mining
scam in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The Petitioners are also filing this petition with a prayer for
strict compliance with the Order dated 28-Jan-2011 passed
by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal
No.1132 of 2011 i.e., Jagpal Singh and others v. State of
Punjab and others AIR 2011 SC 1123 and in W.P. No.202 of
1995, i.e. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India. It is
submitted that vide the said Orders, the Hon’ble Supreme
Court had directed that effective steps be taken for
protection of public lands from encroachment, by all States.
Despite the aforesaid Order, the State of Karnataka has not
only failed to take effective steps for compliance with the
said Order but has intentionally and knowingly disbanded
the aforesaid task force called ‘The Task Force for Recovery
of Public Land and its Protection’.
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An area of 1099 acres of forest land has been encroached
by 312 persons in Bangalore Urban District Forest Division.
Further, 313 acres of tank bed lands have been similarly
encroached upon by 553 persons. The Bannerghatta
National Park which spans over 7374 acres has also been
encroached by 813 different persons to an extent of 767
acres.
Certain real estate businesses in conspiracy with a few
builders from Hyderabad have created bogus sale records in
respect of forest lands in Uttarahalli Manavarathe Kaval
Minor Forest and have therefore grabbed 344 acres of
pristine forest lands. Out of this grabbed area, the
Bangalore Development Authority has knowingly proceeded
to acquire 42 acres in the name of ‘Banashankari VI Stage
Project’ and has, very surprisingly, passed an award for
payment of Rs.3.6 Crores in favour of persons claiming to
be unauthorized cultivators.
The Petitioners state that the Task Force had not only
issued a detailed statement of its activities in the form of a
Final Report but had also issued or otherwise ensured
issuance of numerous reports in respect of certain glaring
instances of encroachment. The report of the Task Force
itself records that its efforts to recover encroached public
lands were often defeated primarily on account of lack of
administrative will. Few such instances of this Task Force
going about its task and the sudden, calculated and
unlawful interferences that it witnessed may be noted
below:
This Task Force had conducted a very detailed investigation
in respect of encroachments in Gollahalli village, Anekal
Taluk, Bangalore Urban District. The Task Force report inter
alia states that a road was formed in the middle of a lake
land encroaching nearly 2 acres and 11 guntas of lake land.
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When the Task Force had co-ordinated a team of people
from various departments to demolish the encroachments
therein on a particular day and the entire machinery of
people and tools from the Taluk office, Deputy
Commissioner’s office along and the members of the
Special Task Force were on the spot to carry out demolition
of such encroachments, the persons in illegal occupation of
such land came forth with an order of injunction, not from
any competent Court of law, but from the Hon’ble Chief
Minister of Karnataka to the effect that no action be taken
at all to remove any encroachments and that all
encroachments be left in place as they were.
This Task Force issued its Report on 30-Jun-2011 and titled
it as ‘Greed and Connivance’. This Report was duly
submitted to the Government of Karnataka on 04-Jul-2011.
(This report shall be referred to hereinafter as the ‘Task
Force Report’). However, the Government of Karnataka
appears to have declined to accept the Task Force Report
on account of alleged procedural irregularities.
The Task Force Report and JLC Reports (both these reports
are hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘Reports’)
emphatically state that despite various legal powers for the
protection against encroachment and for removal of
encroached public lands, blatant encroachments of public
lands have continued primarily due to the intentional refusal
or indifference of various ‘competent authorities’. Between
intentional omission and indifference, these are the
intermediate factors at play - ignorance of proper legal
powers, lethargy, fear of consequences arising from vexing
those in power, aggressive interference by powerful
interests and last but not the least, collusion with
encroachers.
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The JLC Report enumerates the details of encroachment,
which is extracted herein below (in respect of Bangalore
Urban District):
Sl.
No.
Name of the
Department
Encroachmen
t in acres
Approximat
e value in
Crores
1. Revenue
Department
9294.00 18,588.00
2. Bangalore
Development
Authority
2,878.20 5,236.25
3. Muzrai 38.09 165.55
4. a) Forest
b) Tank bed
719.34
219.20
1,877.08
5. Karnataka Industrial
Area Development
Board
33.22 66.44
6. Town Municipal
Councils/ City
Municipal Councils
8.08 32.32
7. Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike
7.08 46.00
8. Karnataka Housing
Board
34.08 152.00
9. Wakf Board 259.33 780.00
10. Housing Co-
operative Societies
86.19 170.00
11. Bangalore University 11.22 96.11
12. Transport
Department
3.31 18.00
13. Health Department 3.20 25.00
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(NIMHANS)
14. Animal Husbandry
Department
45.00 100.00
15. Slum Clearance
Board
12.19 25.00
Total 13,614.37 27,377.75
The Reports states that the extensive growth of Bangalore
in the last 20 years has resulted in an exponential increase
in the value of land, consequently, resulting in extensive
encroachments of government land.
Forest Land
The Task Force Report states that the total geographical
area of Karnataka State is 1,90,498 square kilometres. Of
this, 30,718 square kilometres is classified as forests. This is
equivalent to about Seventy Six (76) Lakh acres of forest
lands in the State. According to the details furnished by the
Forest Department, an area of one lakh sixty five thousand
seven hundred and ninety six (1,65,796) acres is under
encroachment. This shows a colossal failure on the part of
the Central and State Governments in the enforcement of
the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Forest Conservation Act,
1980, the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963 and the significant
Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Forest case, WP
(C) No.202 of 1995. Further, the encroachment of more
than 60% of the Forest lands occurs in the ecologically
sensitive Western Ghats, one of the 18 ecological hotspots
in the world.
Lakes, Water Bodies and Storm Water Drains
The Task Force Report states that there are about 38000
lakes in Karnataka. In Bangalore Urban District alone, there
were about 600 lakes. As some lakes fell under two
adjoining survey numbers belonging to two different
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villages in the revenue records, the number of lakes in
Bangalore Urban District has been shown as 937. The JLC
report states that in 1961, there were 262 water bodies in
Bangalore City area. These water bodies have become the
first casualty of illegal layout formation, rank trespass,
blatant encroachment and sanction to various departments
of the State and Central Government to put up construction.
Public, Religious and Charitable Institutions
The JLC Report found that a majority of Temple lands that
lie within the limits of Bangalore City and Bangalore Urban
District had been encroached. The JLC Report considered
about 1016 (One thousand and Sixteen) temples in
Bangalore Urban District out of which 68 (Sixty Eight) are
situated in important commercial areas within the city. In
many cases, very valuable temple lands were sold off on
the basis of forged documents.
Collusion of Government Officials in Land Grabbing
The Reports also record instances of flagrant breach of the
KLR Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder
whilst regularising unauthorised cultivation. The KLR Act
prohibits the regularisation of unauthorised cultivation of
lands that are situated within 18 kilometres from the outer
BBMP limits. The Reports specifically record numerous, but
blatant violations in this regard. The Reports observe that
about 5,835 acres of land have been regularized in the
vicinity of Bangalore even with factual knowledge that
almost all of such lands are situated within 18 kilometres
from the BBMP limits.
At this juncture, it is pertinent to submit that the
Government of Karnataka had set up 16 different task
forces such as the Knowledge Commission, Vision Group of
Karnataka 2020, etc. One of these 16 task forces was the
aforesaid Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its
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Protection. For reasons that still continue to surprise the
right-thinking members of our society, the Government of
Karnataka, that is, Respondent No.2 published through a
Notification that the Task Force shall be disbanded with
effect from 04-Jan-2011 vide GO No.RD 897 LGB 2010. The
reasons apparently stated in the said Order were incorrect
to the very knowledge of the Government. All the same, the
other 15 task forces continued to remain in operation after
the disbanding of this Task Force although the work of some
of those Task Forces would have greatly benefited by the
continued operation of this Task Force. The action of the
Government of Karnataka in unlawfully disbanding the said
Task Force is an act that cannot be justified under the label
of ‘administrative discretion’ in view of the circumstances
that preceded such disbandment. If it was the intention of
the Government, in disbanding the Task Force, to relieve
the encroachers of their worries, anxieties and fears, the
Government may be said to have succeeded thereby.
Also, in this petition, the petitioners are not asking for the
creation of any new legal or judicial rule by this Hon’ble
Court and nor are they lamenting at any deficit in terms of
statutory powers to the Government to recover encroached
public lands. Much has already been said judicially about
the need to preserve and protect public lands from
encroachment and all that remains now for the Government
is to simply act within the framework of existing laws to
recover encroached public lands. By itself, the Government
has been most unwilling to do anything concerning the
problem at hand. When pressed by the Legislature, the
Government has been content to merely act in ceremonious
ways and to leave the problem to fester further. It is under
such circumstances that these petitioners are before this
Hon’ble Court. Their case does not rest on ignorance on the
part of the Government. Rather, their case rests on full
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knowledge on the part of the Government but that, with
such full knowledge, the Government is unwilling to enforce
the will of our Legislature. So, in the context of a large
number of statutes that already empower the executive
Government to act and to recover encroached public lands,
the Government has been plainly unwilling to enforce the
will of our Legislature. In a situation such as this, there is no
other recourse open to the Petitioners except to approach
this Hon’ble Court.
List of Dates
Dates Event
21-Mar-2006 The matter of encroachment of Government lands engages the attention, anger and outrage in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly; primarily in view of the failure of the executive Government to enforce the various statutes in existence.
22-Mar-2006 The matter of encroachment of Government lands is also debated in the Karnataka Legislative Council.
17-Jun-2006 A Joint House Committee is constituted vide Publication No.206 dated 17-Jun-2006
28-Jun-2006
to
20-Dec-2006
The aforesaid Committee conducts numerous meetings, inspects the encroached government lands and receives information, clarification and explanation from various government departments. Finally, the Joint House Committee verifies and accepts Part -1 of the Interim Report on 20-Dec-2006
01-Feb-2007 Part I of the Interim Report of the Joint House Committee is presented in the Legislative Assembly
14-Jul-2007 Part I of the Interim Report of the Joint House Committee is presented in the Legislative Council
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12-Jul-2007 The Joint Legislature Committee approves its Interim Report Part II.
26-Jul-2007 Part II of the Interim Report of the Joint House Committee is presented before the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council
December 2008
To safeguard public lands, the Karnataka Public Lands Corporation is incorporated with Rs.5 crores of paid up share capital. Its principal objective is to protect the government lands recovered from encroachment.
19-Sept-2009 The ‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection’ is constituted vide G.O. No. RD 556 LGB 2009
Between Sep, 2009 and Jan 2011
The aforesaid Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection proceeds to faithfully discharge its task and encroachers of public lands are greatly vexed and begin to fear imminent removal.
04-Jan-2011 The Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection is ordered by the Government to be disbanded vide GO No. RD 897 LGB 2010 with effect from 04-Jul-2011.
28-Jan-2011 The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Jagpal Singh & Ors. v State of Punjab and Ors. issues directions to the Chief Secretaries of all the States to prepare schemes for speedy eviction of illegal/unauthorised occupants of common lands.
30-Jun-2011 The Chairman of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection finalises a report detailing the task force’s activities and the extent of encroachment.
04-Jul-2011 The Chairman’s Report/ Task Force Report is submitted to the Government of Karnataka. It is learnt that the Government of Karnataka, for unknown reasons, has
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refused to accept the same.
13-Sept-2011 Perusing the aforesaid report of the Task Force, the Governor of Karnataka takes serious note of the large scale encroachment of public lands and addresses a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka inquiring into the steps taken by the Government towards implementation of the Task Force Report.
25-Jul-2012 The Petitioner No.1, Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, in public interest, writes to the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, (Vidhana Soudha) asking the Government to take urgent and effective steps for the implementation of the Report dated 30-Jun-2011 i.e. the Report of the ‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection’.
27-Aug-2012 The aforesaid letter did not elicit any response from the Government. Therefore, the petitioner wrote another reminder to the Government of Karnataka through its Chief Secretary. However, even as of this day, the petitioners are yet to hear from the Government on what, if any, action it has taken or proposes to take in furtherance of the Report of the Task Force.
22-Nov-2012 These petitioners file a Writ Petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in terms of Article 32 of the Constitution of India praying for a direction to the Government of India and to the Government of Karnataka to act upon the Report of the Task Force and to thereby, remove encroachments upon Government lands and for corresponding reliefs. The aforesaid Writ Petition was filed solely in public interest.
15-Feb-2013 On the very first day of hearing upon the aforesaid petition, the Hon’ble Supreme Court is pleased to note that the issues urged in the aforesaid Writ Petition (Writ Petition No.67 of 2013) are ‘indeed grave’
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and that the issues be first raised before this Hon’ble Court. Accordingly, the Hon’ble Supreme Court is pleased to pass an Order on 15-Feb-2013 directing that:
“In case the petitioners move the Karnataka High Court in a properly constituted petition, the High Court shall examine the matter and pass appropriate Orders on it without any undue delay”.
28-Mar-2013 Hence, this Writ Petition in terms of Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the principal relief of seeking a Court monitoring of Government’s efforts to recover encroached public lands in the territory of the State of Karnataka and for attendant reliefs, solely in public interest.
Sri K.V.DHANANJAY
Roll No.KAR/659/2002
Sri GOPALA KRISHNA
Roll No.KAR/2216/2011
Bangalore
Date: 28-Mar-2013ADVOCATES FOR PETITIONERS