Karnataka High Court notice to state over PIL against land allotments, tree-felling at Jnanabharati campus

Bengaluru: The high court on Friday ordered notice to the state government and others in a PIL challenging the fresh tree-felling proposals and new allotments of land within the Jnanabharati campus.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha posted the matter to December 9 for further consideration.

The petition is filed by Swayam Jagruti Seva Trust and Parvathi Sriram, a resident of Bengaluru.

The petitioners stated that the Jnanabharathi Campus of Bangalore University, spread over approximately 1112 acres, constitutes a significant green space often referred to as an "unsung carbon sink," emphasizing its value as a vital natural ecosystem.

The petitioners submitted that the campus faces imminent ecological threat due to large-scale diversion of its forest lands for multiple construction projects, including the PM-USHA Project, Ambedkar Theme Park, UVCE new campus proposal, and buildings for external institutions such as the Council of Architecture.

Such activities involve cutting of hundreds of mature trees in designated green zones like Bio-Reserve Park-2 (BR-2), where approximately 419 trees are proposed to be cut, the petition said.

The petition stated that an Official Memorandum issued on October 4, 2025, by the Greater Bengaluru Authority under Section 8(3) of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, has approved the schedule of trees within Jnanabharathi Campus.

This was in respect to the allotment of land to the PM-USHA program and as per the order, 228 trees are to be retained on-site, 54 trees are to be translocated, and 138 trees have been permitted for felling.

The petition stated that Bangalore University has sought permission to cut trees in the BR-2 area measuring about 6.5 acres to implement the PM-USHA Project, funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

This action threatens an ecologically evolved area that cannot be naturally regenerated once destroyed, the petitioners stated.

According to the petitioners, despite deliberations by the Karnataka Biodiversity Board, which held a special meeting on June 26, 2025, and recommended that the Jnanabharathi Campus be declared a Biodiversity Heritage Site, no further steps have been taken to issue a formal notification.

The petitioners sought directions to the state government and university not to allocate further lands within the campus and to restrain the authorities from proceeding with the proposal to cut the trees.

In the alternative, the petitioners sought direction to the authorities to utilise 35 acres of land, recovered from the encroachment in the campus, for the purpose of developments of the Bangalore University or even the PM-USHA project.