BENGALURU: Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre on Wednesday said a show-cause notice has been issued to former additional principal chief conservator of forests Venkatasubbaiah and other divisional forest officials, seeking details in the HMT land case within seven days.
In a letter to forest officials, which was also addressed to the chief secretary, the minister said 599 acres of land in survey numbers 1 and 2 in Peenya-Jalahalli was declared a forest area as per the gazette notification in 1896. However, the land was transferred to the HMT without conversion by the then-district collector.
Khandre said the forest department has to give a no-objection certificate for land transfer, but that has not been obtained. Also, of the total land, HMT sold 165 acres to the government and private institutions for a whopping Rs 313.65 crore.
In the letter, Khandre said then APCCF Venkatasubbaiah, under 64(a), issued orders to recover the encroached land in 2015. But HMT did not reply to the notice as well as the orders within the stipulated time frame.
He added that later, without getting any approval from the forest department or the forest minister, some forest officials tried to submit an interim petition to the Supreme Court, which created suspicion. Hence, a notice has been served to all officials concerned to explain why denotification was done without the cabinet or forest minister’s approval, he said.