MANGALURU: The Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Special Court has directed the Belthangady police inspector to issue notices to Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari and Rajya Sabha member D Veerendra Heggade with regard to the alleged encroachment of government lands at two places in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada. The court has issued two orders— first on February 19 and second on April 2, 2026.
The first order pertains to the alleged encroachment of 83 cents of government land at Survey No. 96/1 at Kuvettu village in Belthangady taluk on which a rubber plantation stands now. SDM Education Society secretary is the second respondent in this case.
The second order pertains to the encroachment of 25 cents in Survey No. 173/5 in Belthangady village on which an amphitheatre has been constructed. Belthangady Samaja Mandir Secretary is the second respondent in this case.
The notices were issued based on two separate petitions filed before the court by Nagarika Seva Trust president K Somanath Nayak. The respondents have been asked to appear before the court and to file an objection statement, if any.
The court has also issued directions to the Belthangady tahsildar to submit a status report with regard to the allegations made in the complaint whether there is encroachment as alleged, and if there is encroachment, nature of the encroachment, extent of the encroachment. Dakshina Kannada DC, Assistant Commissioner, Puttur and Tahsildar, Belthangady taluk are also made respondents in both the cases.
In the memorandum of petition filed under Section 9 (1) of the Karnataka Land Grabbing Act 2011,the petitioner (Kuvettu land encroachment) says that the first respondent society being a registered institution under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act had acquired rights to the extent of 3 acres 41 cents in Survey No. 96/2 of Kuvettu village by virtue of the registered sale deed dated 29/2/2008.
The said institution has illegally taken possession of lands measuring around 83 cents of govt land in Survey No. 96/1 of Kuvettu village, it alleged.
Further, the petitioner says that the revenue inspector concerned verified the said land and submitted a report stating that SDME Society has been put up on government land. Despite this fact, the authorities concerned failed to act as required under law and discharge their duties as required under land and till today they have not taken any action to recover the government land which has been illegally grabbed, it alleged.
The petitioner has also alleged that the Belthangady tahsildar was hand in glove and enabled the respondents to grab the valuable land of the government. The said land is located about 3 km from Belthangady town and is valued more than Rs 1.50 crore.
In the second case, the petitioner said the said society was granted land in Survey No. 174/4 measuring 26 cents in Belthangady for construction of a community hall wherein the society constructed the community hall adjoining the land of the government in Survey No. 173/5 measuring 25 cents and illegally occupied the said land to the fullest extent and has now built an amphitheatre by demolishing the existing community hall. The market value of this land situated 500m from BC Road- Villupuram NH is Rs 2 crore, says petitioner in the complaint.
The petition appealed to the court to punish respondents under section 4 of Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act 2011, vacate the encroachments and hand over the lands to the government.The next hearing is on July 20 and September 18.