3 days ago
Eshwar Khandre recommends suspension of IFS officer
Bengaluru: A case has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking permission to denotify HMT forest land worth over Rs 14,000 crore, and action has been recommended against a retired IAS, IFS and two sitting IFS officers, Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre said.
Speaking to reporters who met him in Bengaluru on Friday, he said that the land in the possession of HMT has not been converted to non-forest purposes. 'Therefore, according to several judgments given by the Supreme Court and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, it remains a forest even today. However, this land is alienated, real estate companies have built hundreds of flats. Shooting of serials and films is going on. The land is being used for commercial purposes. How this was allowed is questionable', he said.
Responding to a journalist's question about why no action has been taken even after seven months of giving notice to officials in the case of IA for denotification of HMT forest land without the permission of the cabinet, the minister said that the forest land in the possession of HMT is the property of 7 crore Kannadigas, which a few officials did not even bring to the attention of the then Forest Minister and applied for denotification without seeking the prior permission of the cabinet. He said that notices have been issued to four officials, including two retired and two serving ones, and that he has recommended action to the Chief Minister.
Additional Chief Principal Conservator of Forests R Gokul has written a letter to the CBI seeking protection, saying that he is being victimised because he got the ruling party MLAs punished in the Belikeri case. Responding to a journalist's question whether the government is victimising officials, Khandre said that this is a completely false allegation made against the government.
'On September 24, 2024, I sent a written note to the Additional Chief Secretary, asking for a show cause notice to the officers who had issued IA without the prior approval of the Cabinet and asked them to take action' the Minister said.
'A month after the notice was given, the verdict was delivered in October 2024. R. Gokul wrote a letter to the CBI to cover up his mistake, making false allegations against the government, which could also be considered misconduct by the officer or a threat tactic', he said. He personally visited the HMT forest land area, where there is still 280 acres of plantation. However, the IA was submitted by giving false information to the Supreme Court that the said land has lost its forest status.
The officer writing the letter to the CBI in his defence questioned why he did not write a letter to the Chief Minister saying that there is forest on the HMT land. It cannot be submitted as an IA because it has lost its forest status. A high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary was formed in 2015 to discuss and recommend to the government the forest land held by other institutions in Bengaluru. Without even bringing it to the attention of that committee, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on June 20, 2020, seeking permission for denotification without the permission of the Cabinet.
In just 25 days, i.e. on 15 July 2020, a high-level meeting was held to decide the issue 'I have asked the Additional Chief Secretary, Forest, Environment and Ecology Department to submit a proposal for denotification of such forest areas after seeking the opinion of the Advocate General regarding the sanction of areas to various/government institutions before 1980 for a decision.'
However, he said that ex-post facto permission was not obtained for this. Hence, notices were issued to four officers. He said that he has now submitted a file to the Chief Minister to suspend Gokul and conduct an inquiry, conduct a departmental inquiry against another officer and take action against a retired IAS officer and an IFS officer as per the rules. As soon as this matter came to his notice, an application was filed in the Supreme Court to withdraw the IA. The Cabinet's permission has also been obtained to withdraw the IA, said Eshwar Khandre.
The government's intention is to build another huge park in North Bengaluru on the forest land in the possession of HMT. 'Our goal is to save breathing space for the next generation' Eshwar Khandre said and added that he had made this point clear even before filing an application in the Supreme Court to withdraw the IA.
