BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday issued notice to the state and centre on a public interest litigation filed by the Namma Whitefield RWA Federation Trust against alleged illegal diversion of 711 acres of land forming part of the Kadugodi plantation in the city, notified as a government plantation and subsequently treated as state forest, for industrial purposes by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board without denotification or approval under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice KS Hemalekha issued the notice after hearing the petition filed by the Trust seeking directions to evict all occupants who may have encroahced upon the government plantation, ban the use of forest land for non-forest purposes and conduct a court-monitored joint survey and demarcation of the original 711 acres.
The petitioners stated that the averments in the petition are based on a site visit conducted by trustees and residents in June this year, revealing ongoing excavation, deployment of heavy machinery, felling of trees and erection of commercial barricades over Sy No 1, Kadugodi, and Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC) extracts reflecting the Forest Department as the registered owner.
It was alleged in the petition that the Kadugodi plantation, which, to date, is recorded as forest land, is being utlised by KIADB and certain private organisations to their advantage, resulting in diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes without adhering to the mandatory requirement of the Karnataka Forest Act and Forest Conservation Act.