Minister suggests action against four officials over bid to denotify forest land

India Today

a day ago

Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre said he has recommended action against two retired officers and two serving Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, including the suspension of Additional Chief Principal Conservator of Forests R Gokul, in connection with the controversial attempt to denotify forest land held by Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) in Bengaluru.Addressing the media in Bengaluru, Khandre stated that although the land is currently under HMT's possession, it has not been converted to non-forest use and therefore continues to be classified as forest land as per the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and various Supreme Court judgments. Despite this, the land has been alienated and is being used for commercial purposes, including the construction of residential complexes and film and television shoots. 'How this was allowed is questionable,' he said.advertisementResponding to a question on the lack of action for seven months after notices were issued to officials involved in submitting an interlocutory application (IA) before the Supreme Court without cabinet approval, Khandre criticised the officials for bypassing protocol. 'This forest land is the property of seven crore Kannadigas. Yet, a few officials did not even bring the matter to the attention of the then forest minister and sought denotification without obtaining the cabinet's prior approval," he said. He added that he had issued notices to four officers, including two retired and two serving ones, and had recommended disciplinary action to the Chief Minister.
In a letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Gokul alleged he was being targeted for securing punishment against ruling party legislators in the Belikeri port illegal iron ore export case. However, Khandre dismissed this as false. 'On September 24, 2024, I sent a written note to the Additional Chief Secretary, asking for a show-cause notice and action against those officers who issued the IA without cabinet approval. The Belikeri judgment came a month later, in October 2024. Gokul's letter to the CBI is an attempt to cover up his own actions, and may even amount to misconduct or a threat tactic,' the Minister said.advertisementKhandre, who personally visited the area, said 280 acres of plantation still exists on the land. He said the IA submitted to the Supreme Court falsely claimed that the land no longer qualified as forest. 'If there is forest on the land, why did the officer not write to the Chief Minister instead of the CBI? One cannot claim in court that the land has lost forest status just to file an IA,' he said.He further pointed out that a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary was formed in 2015 to examine forest land under institutional control in Bengaluru. 'But without even informing the committee, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on June 20, 2020, seeking denotification. In just 25 days, on July 15, 2020, a high-level meeting instructed the Additional Chief Secretary, Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, to submit a proposal to the cabinet after seeking the Advocate General's opinion on whether land granted to institutions before 1980 could be denotified. However, no ex-post facto approval was taken for this decision,' he said.Khandre said a file has now been submitted to the Chief Minister recommending the suspension of Gokul and an inquiry, a departmental probe against another serving officer, and appropriate action under service rules against the two retired officers — one from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and another from the IFS.advertisementHe also clarified that the government had filed an application in the Supreme Court to withdraw the IA once the issue came to light, and that cabinet approval has been obtained for the withdrawal.Separately, the Minister revealed that the government intends to develop a large park on the forest land held by HMT in north Bengaluru. 'We want to preserve breathing space for future generations,' Khandre said, noting that he had made this intention clear even before the IA withdrawal was initiated in the Supreme Court.
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