R Ashoka promises stringent law against encroachments

Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Wednesday promised a stronger law to deal with encroachments after senior JD(S) member A T Ramaswamy stunned the Legislative Assembly by narrating how government land worth Rs 1,890 crore was grabbed in Bengaluru.

This pertains to 63 acres of gomala (grazing) land in Mullur village near Mahadevapura.

“In December 2019, the regional commissioner had stated in a report that this was a clear conspiracy to grab land. Officials were named for action to be taken against them. Nothing has been done,” Ramaswamy, a member of the government’s committee on land encroachment, said during his speech on the Budget.

Ramaswamy also read out a statement made by IAS officer N Manjunath Prasad, who was the revenue secretary when he deposed before the committee. “One acre is worth about Rs 30 crore. There was a complaint from villagers on encroachment.

There are 73 acres including survey numbers 141, 145, 146 and 149 being gomala land. Out of the 73 acres, the genuine grant was for 10 acres only. In 2005, the ‘land mafia’ created a fake grant certificate,” Ramaswamy said, adding that the Department of Stamps & Registration was asked to stop the sale of this land.

“Private persons created a fake certificate to show that the land was granted in 1962-63. They also created fake conversion documents for the cultivated land,” he said. “All these were submitted to the court. But, the court quashed the stoppage of registration of the land and asked for the documents to be sent to the forensic lab. The lab said it had too much work and sent the file back. Look at the level of nexus,” Ramaswamy said.

This case alone had land worth Rs 1,890 crore, he said. “You ministers struggle for Rs 50-100 crore. There are thousands of such cases,” said Ramaswamy, who earlier headed a joint house committee that looked into government lands usurped in and around Bengaluru.

“The government can get two years’ worth of money by recovering lands in the Bengaluru metropolitan region alone,” Ramaswamy said.

Ashoka said it was in this case that he tried to suspend and transfer the officials concerned but in vain. “We need a proper law so that those involved do not get any relief from the courts. I’m ready to amend the existing laws,” he said.