The High Court on Friday granted four months time to the government to evict the villagers of Kalasa in Chikmagalur who have encroached upon government and forest lands.
Hearing an appeal filed by the state government, a division bench comprising Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice B V Nagarathna granted time till October 31, 2014 for the government to evict the villagers.
Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar submitted to the court that pre-1978 encroachments of three acres and less per family will be proposed for regularisation under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. He said that the Ministry of Environment and Forests had approved 19,368 cases of encroachment in 14,484 hectors of forest land in the year 1997.
The AG also submitted that Mudigere taluk in Chikmagalur has infiltration of left-wing extremist elements. They will find an opportunity to mobilise supporters for their ill placed ideology in a situation like this where most of the encroachers are poorer sections and that land in occupation in Kalaseshwara Inam Forest land is all that they have.
So the government was carrying out the eviction drive cautiously and meticulously. The AG sought six months time to prepare a rehabilitation package for those encroaches who do not fall into the category of regularisation of their land. The court however, granted only four months time.
Published 27 June 2014, 17:33 IST