‘Land Revenue Act being misused, farmers vulnerable’

In the wake of several instances of misuse of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, making farmers vulnerable to land encroachment cases, the government has proposed amending
the law.

Speaking in the Assembly on Thursday, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the government would amend the provision under Section 192 (A) of the Act. The minister was responding to an issue raised by MLAs Hartal Halappa, K G Bopaiah, Araga Jnanendra, Dinakar Shetty and others, on how Section 192 (A) of the Act that talks about offences and penalties was being misused by government officials.

Halappa said, “While the provision was meant for penalising those who encroached large tracts of government land in urban areas, it is being used on farmers who are using small portions of land for cultivation,” he said.

Giving an instance, he narrated how about 12,000 families who were displaced during the Linganamakki dam construction were using forest land for cultivation, based on a government decision. However, they do not have requisite documents. “The forest department is using provisions under the Act to slap cases against them for encroachment.”

Jnanendra said in his own Tirthahalli taluk, there were FIRs against farmers for encroaching as little as two guntas of bagair hukum land. “These farmers cannot even afford the bus fares to come to Bengaluru to attend case hearings here. I myself am helping several of them with the fares,” he said.

Responding to the observations by the legislators, Ashoka said there were 7,356 cases registered until now, of which 3,280 were disposed of till now.