Karnataka High Court orders forest dept to refund Rs 4.33 lakh to Kodagu landowner

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has directed the Forest Department to refund Rs 4.33 lakh, along with 6 per centinterest, to the legal heirs of a Kodagu landowner, Mahabaleshwar Bhat, who had deposited the amount in 1982.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj ruled that the state cannot exploit a mistake made by a citizen in categorising the land as ‘sagu bane land’ when it was, in fact, alienated ‘sagu bane land’, and retain the deposited amount.

Bhat, who owned 38.5 acres in Biligeri Village, Madikeri taluk, Kodagu district, had received permission on February 1, 1983, to cut 349 trees on the property. He subsequently paid Rs 4,33,082, the assessed value of the trees. However, he later realised that the land had been classified as alienated ‘sagu bane land’ since 1897, making the payment unnecessary.

Bhat requested a refund from the authorities, but his plea was rejected by the Forest Department on April 25, 2012, citing the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, as grounds for denial. After the department’s appellate authority also dismissed his appeal, Bhat moved the high court.

During the pendency of the case, Bhat passed away and his legal representatives were substituted as petitioners in 2023. The court found that the Forest Department failed in its duty to verify the land's classification.

“In fact, it was for the assistant and chief conservator of forest to verify these from the records concerned and not go by the statement made by the petitioner himself. Whenever any application is filed by any person claiming permission to cut trees, there is a duty imposed on the authority granting such permission to verify the details. If at all the details had been verified, it would have been clear that the land in question is alienated 'sagu bane land' and not un-alienated 'sagu bane land'. This aspect has been made clear by the deputy commissioner in his order dated March 29, 2010,” Justice Suraj Govindaraj said.