The Karnataka government ordered the immediate recovery of the notified forest area of 599 acres, valued at over Rs. 10000 crores from the watchmaker HMT Ltd. Forest, Ecology, Environment Eshwar Khandre instructed the additional chief secretary of the Forest Department to take steps to reclaim 599 acres of notified forest land situated in Peenya-Jala-halli Plantation Survey Numbers 1 and 2 in Bengaluru.
In a note, he said, “During the rule of the Mysore Maharajas the land was worth thousands of crore and is being illegally sold by the Union Government-owned HMT Ltd. to various government departments, organizations, and private individuals. Out of the 599 acres of forest land, 469 acres and 32 guntas were given to HTM Ltd. but 281 acres remain vacant. These should be reclaimed. Legal action should be taken to reclaim the remaining land afterwards.” Before granting the forest land for non-forest purposes, it must be denotified and a gazette notification must be issued. However, Bengaluru’s then deputy commissioner, Hanuman transferred the land to HMT through a donation deed in 1963.
Khandre said that no gazette notification was issued regarding this deed and the land wasn’t denotified for non-forest purposes. Khandre notified that the land currently acquired by HMT and sold to various organizations, departments, and private individuals is forest land.On the 201 acres of land sold by HMT proceedings have been completed and HMT has so far not filed an appeal against the order. Hence, Khandre suggested that the land it sold was still considered forest land.