BENGALURU: With 1,002.35 acres of encroachments in Masagali Reserve Forests of Chikkamagaluru district yet to be evicted, a ‘status report’ submitted by the district deputy conservator of forests lays bare the reality behind ‘revenue grants’ and the need to apprise the Supreme Court. It clearly states that grantees are not eligible for regularisation and in some cases, rights have already been rejected. The status report dated December 23, 2017, submitted by the DCF on Masagali encroachments - a copy of which is available with The New Indian Express - highlights the illegality of the grants before 1944, between 1944-78 and after 1978. In December, the then DCF Chandranna was shunted out for having taken up survey and demarcation of revenue grants and had deemed them as illegal.
The report strongly opines that revenue grants can only be made after the denotification of the reserve forest. “The above mentioned grants are made inside the reserve forest without following the due process and violates Section 20 of Karnataka Forest Act (KFA). The grants should have been made only after denotification of forests under section 21 of KFA, 1963. In the present case, no denotification of forests was done for 112 revenue grants. In a similar case, the apex court in July 2003 had held that when lands were included in reserve forests, the entries in the revenue records were of no consequence and mere, ‘Saguvali Chiti’ did not confer any title on the suit lands.”
The forest official concludes that grants if they have to be made, can be made only after denotification of the reserve forest. “A notification in the official gazette is statutorily required for disforesting/de-reserving /denotifying any area in Masagali under the provisions of Mysore Forest Act,1900 and KFA, 1963. But in the present case, no statutorily valid notification is published in the official Gazette disforesting/dereserving any area in the said Masagali Reserve Forests.”
Further, the status report reveals that many of these grants have been made after the promulgation of Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980. Without prior approval of the Centre under FCA, these grants are liable to be cancelled in toto. This issue need to be brought to the notice of the Supreme Court as it may have impact on many other cases of encroachments and illegal grants.
Regarding 37 grants after 1978 for which records are unavailable, they have to be treated as encroachments, the DCF adds. “In the meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, on 4.12.17, it was decided that 37 cases of grants in 41 locations for an area of 299.29 acres for which records are not available are to be treated as encroachments. This point may kindly be brought to the notice of the Court.”