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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION No. 15511-14 of 2013 [GM - RES] PIL

BETWEEN:

Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and Others Petitioners

AND:

Union of India and Others Respondents

SYNOPSIS AND LIST OF DATES

The short but important question of law that arises for the

consideration of this Hon’ble Court in this case is:

Is it lawful for our executive Government to

deliberately, knowingly and intentionally refuse to act

when it is provided with specific, definite and actual

information that certain Government lands have been

encroached upon by private persons through

clandestine, illegal, manipulative, corrupt or fraudulent

means?

The Petitioners are filing this writ petition solely in public

interest. As members of the public, they are aggrieved with

a fully provable fact of extensive and unbridled

encroachment of public lands across the State of Karnataka.

It is very shameful to the rule of law and to the notion of

governance that such fearless and continuing

encroachment is not merely limited to lands far and away in

the forests but is actively evidenced within Bangalore and

its surrounding belt.

Summary: The issue of massive encroachment of public

lands has frequently engaged the attention and anger of the

State Legislature – leading to proper identification of the

encroached lands and little else. A Joint Legislature

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Committee of the bi-cameral Legislature of Karnataka was

even set up to examine and to look into all aspects of

encroachment of public lands. This committee went about

its task and reported, after very extensive examination, that

there was simply no administrative will in the State of

Karnataka to recover the massive extent of encroached

lands. Was there any impediment in terms of the law? None.

Numerous statutes already exist in that regard and the only

reason for such administrative inaction was a reluctance to

bother a few powerful members of the society and of

course, the land mafia which is always available on call to

make matters worse.

On the advice of the aforesaid Joint Legislature Committee

that a task force should be established to co-ordinate with

the various departments to ensure that encroached lands

are identified without any fear and favour and that the

recovery of such lands is effected within the scheme of

existing laws, a ‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and

its Protection’ was duly established by the Government of

Karnataka. Perhaps, our executive Government might have

intended that, as is the case with numerous such

commissions, that this Task Force should while away its

time and public money and not accomplish its stated

objective. Unfortunately for the Government, this

committee came to be headed by one Sri

V.Balasubramanian, retired Additional Chief Secretary,

Government of Karnataka. Perhaps, the said Sri

V.Balasubramanian could have taken a clue from the

various past committees that had largely gone about their

task in merely ceremonious ways. He did not. He must have

taken the motto ‘Government’s work is God’s work’ that one

cannot miss on any Government building in Karnataka quite

literally. He went about his work and then prepared a report

and called it as ‘Greed and Connivance’. His work sent a

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chill into the heart of all the encroachers as rapid progress

came to be witnessed and public lands, at last, began to

come back into the control and custody of the Government.

And, the Government then took the all too predictable step

of disbanding the task force altogether. However, the

Petitioners believe that the due administrative protocols

were not followed in the matter of such disbandment and

that the initiative was taken merely by the then Revenue

Minister though lands of a dozen other departments were

also the subject of encroachment. Further, the cabinet is

neither said to have discussed nor approved such

disbandment.

Before the petitioners proceed to lay down the findings of

the said Task Force, they would like to clarify that they are

not of the view that the standard of Government conduct in

say, the western world or some other foreign country is to

be imposed on our Government. Rather, it is that, without

any recourse to how any other country might have

safeguarded its own property, we only need to see how and

to emulate the conduct of other cities in India that have

effectively curbed encroachment of public lands. Turning

further inward, the petitioners further submit that more

than 20000 acres of lands are in the control and custody of

the Defence establishment in the Bangalore Urban District.

No part of these 20000 acres of defence lands has been

encroached upon. In and of itself, this finding does

emphasize one aspect – that the evil of encroachment of

public lands in the State of Karnataka is not incurable or

without a remedy. The defence establishment already

possesses that cure – ‘plain vigilance’. So, having been

cured already in one ‘person’, the evil at hand is most

amenable to a cure whenever the same antidote is

administered again. It is the most humble expectation of

these petitioners that someday in the foreseeable future,

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the same ‘plain vigilance’ would also be witnessed in the

various agencies under the control of the Government of

Karnataka with respect to public lands under its care and

custody.

On 17-Jun-2006, the Legislature of Karnataka had appointed

a Joint Legislature Committee comprising of 14 MLAs and 6

MLCs under the chairmanship of Sri A.T.Ramaswamy to

inquire into and submit a detailed Report on encroachment

of Government lands in Bangalore and its adjoining areas.

After the aforesaid detailed enquiry, the JLC submitted two

reports on 01-Feb-2007 and 26-Jul-2007 to the Karnataka

Legislature.

The interim and final JLC reports conclude that various State

instrumentalities such as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara

Palike which is nothing but the Bangalore Municipal

Corporation, the Bangalore Development Authority, City and

Town Municipal Councils etc., have grossly and knowingly

failed in their legal and statutory duty to protect

Government and public lands. Instead, these bodies have

found it convenient to express helplessness and have in

many cases, acted as active participants, abettors and

promoters in land grabbing crimes in tandem with members

of organised land grabbers.

Although the JLC did submit very elaborate and detailed

reports, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly came to be

dissolved in 2007 and the JLC accordingly, stood defunct

consequent to the imposition of the President’s rule in the

State. Later, upon formation of a freshly elected

Government, no immediate action was taken to implement

the recommendations of the JLC.

Thereafter, in order to effectively implement the

recommendations of the JLC, a dedicated body called as the

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‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection’

was constituted under the chairmanship of the former

Additional Chief Secretary, Sri V.Balasubramanian, IAS

(Retd.). This was done through a Government Notification

Vide G.O. No.RD 556/LGB/2009 dated 19-Sept-2009 which

did specify that as part of its work, this Task Force was

required to issue directions to the several Government

departments and statutory bodies to take specific and

appropriate action to remove encroachments. Unlike the

objective of the JLC which was confined to address the

encroachment of public lands in Bangalore and its

surrounding areas, the jurisdiction of this Task Force was

extended to cover the entire territory of the State of

Karnataka and to all Government lands including lands

vested in statutory and local bodies.

The studied observations of the Task Force, in the words

and analysis of the petitioners, as well of the Joint

Legislature Committee are as under:

Approximately 11 lakh acres of public lands in the State of

Karnataka have been encroached upon. This is not a bare

guess but is the product of a careful verification,

examination, inspection and of course, identification. In

many cases, the precise extent of encroachment, the

circumstances proving encroachment, the names, address

or identities of the private parties who have encroached,

the officers of the Government who have facilitated such

encroachment and the mode and means by which such

encroachment came to fruition has also been documented.

11 Lakh acres of lands, in perspective, is this – the

Bangalore Urban District measures 741 Square Kilometres.

11 Lakh acres of lands is equivalent to 4451 Square

Kilometres. In effect, the encroachment of 11 lakh acres is

six times the size of the entire ‘Bangalore Urban District’.

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Of the 11,00,000 acres (Eleven Lakh acres) of

encroachment upon Government lands, 1,65,796 acres

(One Lakh Sixty Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety

Six acres) are forest lands. Of this 1,65,795 acres (One Lakh

Sixty Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety acres) of

forest lands, 1,04,497 acres (One Lakh Four Thousand Four

Hundred and Ninety Seven acres) are in the ecologically

sensitive Western Ghats in three districts alone.

Applying the Government published guidance values (which

are often conservative) wherever appropriate, the value of

such encroached upon lands has been estimated by the

Government Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its

Protection to be around Rs.1,95,000 Crores (Rupees One

Lakh Ninety Five Thousand Crores Only).

In perspective, a sum of Rs.1,95,000 Crores (Rupees One

Lakh Ninety Five Thousand Crores Only) is far larger than

the loss estimated to have been caused by corruption

involved in the 2G spectrum scam and the illegal mining

scam in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The Petitioners are also filing this petition with a prayer for

strict compliance with the Order dated 28-Jan-2011 passed

by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal

No.1132 of 2011 i.e., Jagpal Singh and others v. State of

Punjab and others AIR 2011 SC 1123 and in W.P. No.202 of

1995, i.e. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India. It is

submitted that vide the said Orders, the Hon’ble Supreme

Court had directed that effective steps be taken for

protection of public lands from encroachment, by all States.

Despite the aforesaid Order, the State of Karnataka has not

only failed to take effective steps for compliance with the

said Order but has intentionally and knowingly disbanded

the aforesaid task force called ‘The Task Force for Recovery

of Public Land and its Protection’.

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An area of 1099 acres of forest land has been encroached

by 312 persons in Bangalore Urban District Forest Division.

Further, 313 acres of tank bed lands have been similarly

encroached upon by 553 persons. The Bannerghatta

National Park which spans over 7374 acres has also been

encroached by 813 different persons to an extent of 767

acres.

Certain real estate businesses in conspiracy with a few

builders from Hyderabad have created bogus sale records in

respect of forest lands in Uttarahalli Manavarathe Kaval

Minor Forest and have therefore grabbed 344 acres of

pristine forest lands. Out of this grabbed area, the

Bangalore Development Authority has knowingly proceeded

to acquire 42 acres in the name of ‘Banashankari VI Stage

Project’ and has, very surprisingly, passed an award for

payment of Rs.3.6 Crores in favour of persons claiming to

be unauthorized cultivators.

The Petitioners state that the Task Force had not only

issued a detailed statement of its activities in the form of a

Final Report but had also issued or otherwise ensured

issuance of numerous reports in respect of certain glaring

instances of encroachment. The report of the Task Force

itself records that its efforts to recover encroached public

lands were often defeated primarily on account of lack of

administrative will. Few such instances of this Task Force

going about its task and the sudden, calculated and

unlawful interferences that it witnessed may be noted

below:

This Task Force had conducted a very detailed investigation

in respect of encroachments in Gollahalli village, Anekal

Taluk, Bangalore Urban District. The Task Force report inter

alia states that a road was formed in the middle of a lake

land encroaching nearly 2 acres and 11 guntas of lake land.

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When the Task Force had co-ordinated a team of people

from various departments to demolish the encroachments

therein on a particular day and the entire machinery of

people and tools from the Taluk office, Deputy

Commissioner’s office along and the members of the

Special Task Force were on the spot to carry out demolition

of such encroachments, the persons in illegal occupation of

such land came forth with an order of injunction, not from

any competent Court of law, but from the Hon’ble Chief

Minister of Karnataka to the effect that no action be taken

at all to remove any encroachments and that all

encroachments be left in place as they were.

This Task Force issued its Report on 30-Jun-2011 and titled

it as ‘Greed and Connivance’. This Report was duly

submitted to the Government of Karnataka on 04-Jul-2011.

(This report shall be referred to hereinafter as the ‘Task

Force Report’). However, the Government of Karnataka

appears to have declined to accept the Task Force Report

on account of alleged procedural irregularities.

The Task Force Report and JLC Reports (both these reports

are hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘Reports’)

emphatically state that despite various legal powers for the

protection against encroachment and for removal of

encroached public lands, blatant encroachments of public

lands have continued primarily due to the intentional refusal

or indifference of various ‘competent authorities’. Between

intentional omission and indifference, these are the

intermediate factors at play - ignorance of proper legal

powers, lethargy, fear of consequences arising from vexing

those in power, aggressive interference by powerful

interests and last but not the least, collusion with

encroachers.

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The JLC Report enumerates the details of encroachment,

which is extracted herein below (in respect of Bangalore

Urban District):

Sl.

No.

Name of the

Department

Encroachmen

t in acres

Approximat

e value in

Crores

1. Revenue

Department

9294.00 18,588.00

2. Bangalore

Development

Authority

2,878.20 5,236.25

3. Muzrai 38.09 165.55

4. a) Forest

b) Tank bed

719.34

219.20

1,877.08

5. Karnataka Industrial

Area Development

Board

33.22 66.44

6. Town Municipal

Councils/ City

Municipal Councils

8.08 32.32

7. Bangalore

Mahanagara Palike

7.08 46.00

8. Karnataka Housing

Board

34.08 152.00

9. Wakf Board 259.33 780.00

10. Housing Co-

operative Societies

86.19 170.00

11. Bangalore University 11.22 96.11

12. Transport

Department

3.31 18.00

13. Health Department 3.20 25.00

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(NIMHANS)

14. Animal Husbandry

Department

45.00 100.00

15. Slum Clearance

Board

12.19 25.00

Total 13,614.37 27,377.75

The Reports states that the extensive growth of Bangalore

in the last 20 years has resulted in an exponential increase

in the value of land, consequently, resulting in extensive

encroachments of government land.

Forest Land

The Task Force Report states that the total geographical

area of Karnataka State is 1,90,498 square kilometres. Of

this, 30,718 square kilometres is classified as forests. This is

equivalent to about Seventy Six (76) Lakh acres of forest

lands in the State. According to the details furnished by the

Forest Department, an area of one lakh sixty five thousand

seven hundred and ninety six (1,65,796) acres is under

encroachment. This shows a colossal failure on the part of

the Central and State Governments in the enforcement of

the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Forest Conservation Act,

1980, the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963 and the significant

Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Forest case, WP

(C) No.202 of 1995. Further, the encroachment of more

than 60% of the Forest lands occurs in the ecologically

sensitive Western Ghats, one of the 18 ecological hotspots

in the world.

Lakes, Water Bodies and Storm Water Drains

The Task Force Report states that there are about 38000

lakes in Karnataka. In Bangalore Urban District alone, there

were about 600 lakes. As some lakes fell under two

adjoining survey numbers belonging to two different

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villages in the revenue records, the number of lakes in

Bangalore Urban District has been shown as 937. The JLC

report states that in 1961, there were 262 water bodies in

Bangalore City area. These water bodies have become the

first casualty of illegal layout formation, rank trespass,

blatant encroachment and sanction to various departments

of the State and Central Government to put up construction.

Public, Religious and Charitable Institutions

The JLC Report found that a majority of Temple lands that

lie within the limits of Bangalore City and Bangalore Urban

District had been encroached. The JLC Report considered

about 1016 (One thousand and Sixteen) temples in

Bangalore Urban District out of which 68 (Sixty Eight) are

situated in important commercial areas within the city. In

many cases, very valuable temple lands were sold off on

the basis of forged documents.

Collusion of Government Officials in Land Grabbing

The Reports also record instances of flagrant breach of the

KLR Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder

whilst regularising unauthorised cultivation. The KLR Act

prohibits the regularisation of unauthorised cultivation of

lands that are situated within 18 kilometres from the outer

BBMP limits. The Reports specifically record numerous, but

blatant violations in this regard. The Reports observe that

about 5,835 acres of land have been regularized in the

vicinity of Bangalore even with factual knowledge that

almost all of such lands are situated within 18 kilometres

from the BBMP limits.

At this juncture, it is pertinent to submit that the

Government of Karnataka had set up 16 different task

forces such as the Knowledge Commission, Vision Group of

Karnataka 2020, etc. One of these 16 task forces was the

aforesaid Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its

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Protection. For reasons that still continue to surprise the

right-thinking members of our society, the Government of

Karnataka, that is, Respondent No.2 published through a

Notification that the Task Force shall be disbanded with

effect from 04-Jan-2011 vide GO No.RD 897 LGB 2010. The

reasons apparently stated in the said Order were incorrect

to the very knowledge of the Government. All the same, the

other 15 task forces continued to remain in operation after

the disbanding of this Task Force although the work of some

of those Task Forces would have greatly benefited by the

continued operation of this Task Force. The action of the

Government of Karnataka in unlawfully disbanding the said

Task Force is an act that cannot be justified under the label

of ‘administrative discretion’ in view of the circumstances

that preceded such disbandment. If it was the intention of

the Government, in disbanding the Task Force, to relieve

the encroachers of their worries, anxieties and fears, the

Government may be said to have succeeded thereby.

Also, in this petition, the petitioners are not asking for the

creation of any new legal or judicial rule by this Hon’ble

Court and nor are they lamenting at any deficit in terms of

statutory powers to the Government to recover encroached

public lands. Much has already been said judicially about

the need to preserve and protect public lands from

encroachment and all that remains now for the Government

is to simply act within the framework of existing laws to

recover encroached public lands. By itself, the Government

has been most unwilling to do anything concerning the

problem at hand. When pressed by the Legislature, the

Government has been content to merely act in ceremonious

ways and to leave the problem to fester further. It is under

such circumstances that these petitioners are before this

Hon’ble Court. Their case does not rest on ignorance on the

part of the Government. Rather, their case rests on full

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knowledge on the part of the Government but that, with

such full knowledge, the Government is unwilling to enforce

the will of our Legislature. So, in the context of a large

number of statutes that already empower the executive

Government to act and to recover encroached public lands,

the Government has been plainly unwilling to enforce the

will of our Legislature. In a situation such as this, there is no

other recourse open to the Petitioners except to approach

this Hon’ble Court.

List of Dates

Dates Event

21-Mar-2006 The matter of encroachment of Government lands engages the attention, anger and outrage in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly; primarily in view of the failure of the executive Government to enforce the various statutes in existence.

22-Mar-2006 The matter of encroachment of Government lands is also debated in the Karnataka Legislative Council.

17-Jun-2006 A Joint House Committee is constituted vide Publication No.206 dated 17-Jun-2006

28-Jun-2006

to

20-Dec-2006

The aforesaid Committee conducts numerous meetings, inspects the encroached government lands and receives information, clarification and explanation from various government departments. Finally, the Joint House Committee verifies and accepts Part -1 of the Interim Report on 20-Dec-2006

01-Feb-2007 Part I of the Interim Report of the Joint House Committee is presented in the Legislative Assembly

14-Jul-2007 Part I of the Interim Report of the Joint House Committee is presented in the Legislative Council

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12-Jul-2007 The Joint Legislature Committee approves its Interim Report Part II.

26-Jul-2007 Part II of the Interim Report of the Joint House Committee is presented before the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council

December 2008

To safeguard public lands, the Karnataka Public Lands Corporation is incorporated with Rs.5 crores of paid up share capital. Its principal objective is to protect the government lands recovered from encroachment.

19-Sept-2009 The ‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection’ is constituted vide G.O. No. RD 556 LGB 2009

Between Sep, 2009 and Jan 2011

The aforesaid Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection proceeds to faithfully discharge its task and encroachers of public lands are greatly vexed and begin to fear imminent removal.

04-Jan-2011 The Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection is ordered by the Government to be disbanded vide GO No. RD 897 LGB 2010 with effect from 04-Jul-2011.

28-Jan-2011 The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Jagpal Singh & Ors. v State of Punjab and Ors. issues directions to the Chief Secretaries of all the States to prepare schemes for speedy eviction of illegal/unauthorised occupants of common lands.

30-Jun-2011 The Chairman of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection finalises a report detailing the task force’s activities and the extent of encroachment.

04-Jul-2011 The Chairman’s Report/ Task Force Report is submitted to the Government of Karnataka. It is learnt that the Government of Karnataka, for unknown reasons, has

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refused to accept the same.

13-Sept-2011 Perusing the aforesaid report of the Task Force, the Governor of Karnataka takes serious note of the large scale encroachment of public lands and addresses a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka inquiring into the steps taken by the Government towards implementation of the Task Force Report.

25-Jul-2012 The Petitioner No.1, Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, in public interest, writes to the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, (Vidhana Soudha) asking the Government to take urgent and effective steps for the implementation of the Report dated 30-Jun-2011 i.e. the Report of the ‘Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection’.

27-Aug-2012 The aforesaid letter did not elicit any response from the Government. Therefore, the petitioner wrote another reminder to the Government of Karnataka through its Chief Secretary. However, even as of this day, the petitioners are yet to hear from the Government on what, if any, action it has taken or proposes to take in furtherance of the Report of the Task Force.

22-Nov-2012 These petitioners file a Writ Petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in terms of Article 32 of the Constitution of India praying for a direction to the Government of India and to the Government of Karnataka to act upon the Report of the Task Force and to thereby, remove encroachments upon Government lands and for corresponding reliefs. The aforesaid Writ Petition was filed solely in public interest.

15-Feb-2013 On the very first day of hearing upon the aforesaid petition, the Hon’ble Supreme Court is pleased to note that the issues urged in the aforesaid Writ Petition (Writ Petition No.67 of 2013) are ‘indeed grave’

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and that the issues be first raised before this Hon’ble Court. Accordingly, the Hon’ble Supreme Court is pleased to pass an Order on 15-Feb-2013 directing that:

“In case the petitioners move the Karnataka High Court in a properly constituted petition, the High Court shall examine the matter and pass appropriate Orders on it without any undue delay”.

28-Mar-2013 Hence, this Writ Petition in terms of Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the principal relief of seeking a Court monitoring of Government’s efforts to recover encroached public lands in the territory of the State of Karnataka and for attendant reliefs, solely in public interest.

Sri K.V.DHANANJAY

Roll No.KAR/659/2002

Sri GOPALA KRISHNA

Roll No.KAR/2216/2011

Bangalore

Date: 28-Mar-2013ADVOCATES FOR PETITIONERS