<p>The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday restrained Graphite India Limited from selling industrial land in Doddanekkundi, East Bengaluru. </p>.<p>A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka passed the interim order on a PIL petition filed by N P Amrutesh, a Bengaluru-based lawyer. </p>.<p>According to the petitioner, the company was allotted land by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in the Doddanekkundi Industrial Area, near Whitefield, in 1972 for Rs 5 Lakh. The company opened a factory on the land in 1980 but shut it down in April 2020 following an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). </p>.<p>In 2006, the company sold 15 acres of the land to a real estate developer without approval from the state government. It is now trying to make real estate gains by alienating (transferring the ownership of) 41 acres of prima land granted to it by the KIADB for more than Rs 900 crore, again without any governmental approval, the petitioner alleged and urged the court to direct the government to take possession of the land and convert it into a lung space. </p>
<p>The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday restrained Graphite India Limited from selling industrial land in Doddanekkundi, East Bengaluru. </p>.<p>A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka passed the interim order on a PIL petition filed by N P Amrutesh, a Bengaluru-based lawyer. </p>.<p>According to the petitioner, the company was allotted land by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in the Doddanekkundi Industrial Area, near Whitefield, in 1972 for Rs 5 Lakh. The company opened a factory on the land in 1980 but shut it down in April 2020 following an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). </p>.<p>In 2006, the company sold 15 acres of the land to a real estate developer without approval from the state government. It is now trying to make real estate gains by alienating (transferring the ownership of) 41 acres of prima land granted to it by the KIADB for more than Rs 900 crore, again without any governmental approval, the petitioner alleged and urged the court to direct the government to take possession of the land and convert it into a lung space. </p>
