Bengaluru: The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to initiate the process of taking back Rs 14,300 crore worth forest land currently under the possession of the public sector unit Hindustan Machines Tools (HMT) Limited.
The decision comes in the wake of some officers from the Karnataka Forest Department filing an Interlocutory Application (IA) before the Supreme Court seeking denotification of forest land under the possession of HMT besides issuing no objection certificates (NOCs) for transferring the land to other institutions without the prior approval from the State Government. The IA sought denotification of forest land located on survey number 1 & 2 of Peenya and Jalahalli plantations.
"The State Forest Department has already filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking withdrawal of the IA. The cabinet gave post facto approval for the same besides hailing Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre's efforts to save the HMT land which is one of the prominent lung spaces of the city," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said while briefing the cabinet decisions.
Patil said that a clear direction was issued to the Additional Chief Secretary of Forests Department in 2020 that any proposal seeking denotification of forest area under the possession of HMT must be brought to the notice of the cabinet. But the officials continued to denotify forest land violating the direction and selling land causing huge financial loss to the government.
