JOIN USConversion order illegal, will restore forest land, state tells CEC
The state government has assured the Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of immediate steps to restore forest land in Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumakuru district.
An area of 323.88 hectares of reserved forest was declared revenue land through an order passed on December 21, 2015 by M Madan Gopal, the then Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Department of Forests, Ecology and Environment.
The CEC had asked the government to submit an action taken report and, in a meeting held in the last week of January in New Delhi, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest, Ecology and Environment) stated that the illegal order of December 21, 2015 will be set aside. Madan Gopal had converted the entire forest land as revenue land, barely 10 days before his retirement.
At the meeting held recently, the CEC asked the state government about the authority or legal provision which empowered the ACS to pass the order.
The government stated that there was no provision in law for the court of the ACS to deal with representations connected with notification of forest. Challenging the order passed by Madan Gopal, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) had filed an appeal before the government. When the CEC asked about the status of the appeal, the government said no action has been taken so far.
"The CEC is of the opinion that the order (December 21, 2015) issued by the ACS is not in conformity with the Karnataka Forest Act and is beyond the scope of the apex court order. This illegal order of the ACS ought to have been remedied by the government, especially when such a request was made by the PCCF. The CEC noted with concern that the order, if implemented, may benefit the mining lessees,'' the minutes of the meeting stated.
The ACS's order had regularised nine major mining companies. The notification under Section 4 of the Karnataka Forest Act was issued in August 4, 1994 proposing to declare land in Janeru block (Jaaneharu village) of Chikkanayakanahalli taluk as reserved forest.
Notification declaring the extent of 323.88 hectares in survey numbers 41, 42, 43 as reserved forest was published in the gazette on October 31, 1996. In its report in February 2012, the CEC had said there were apparent mistakes in the 1996 notification.
The apex court passed an interim order directing the government to issue corrigendum to correct `typographical error', as submitted by the department. A corrigendum was issued in September 2014 by adding 37 new survey numbers with an area of 1,545.04 hectares as reserved forest. Madan Gopal had passed the order based on an appeal filed by mining companies.