‘Dropping farmland from special courts’ ambit kills Karnataka's forests’

The government’s assurance of removing farmland from the jurisdiction of the Special Courts for Prohibition of Land Grabbing has come as a jolt for officials trying to evict encroachments at a time when the department is facing the challenge of recovering more than 2 lakh hectares of forest land under encroachment.

The government’s latest move has also come at a time when the department has barely used the provisions of the Land Grabbing Prohibition Act. The Act came into force in 2014 with provisions of up to six months of imprisonment or penalty.

Senior officials said the provisions have not been used. “There are no cases where such a punishment has been awarded. The cases ended after recovering the land in instances where the encroachers were caught. In a majority of the cases, political pressure was enough to make the foresters back off. The Act was effective only in the sense that it gave some level of confidence to the district-level officers to initiate action,” a senior official said.

A major portion of the 2.04 lakh acres of encroached forest land is spread across three Western Ghats districts of Shivamogga (81,502 acres), Chikkamagaluru (30,641 acres) and Uttara Kannada (28,344 acres).

Political connection

A deputy conservator of forests said most of the encroachment was done through clearing forest in a short time and converting it into farmland.

“There are instances where trees and shrubs are cleared overnight. Unless a forest guard or an RFO notices it and brings it to the notice of the higher-ups, it is impossible to detect. Encroachers come up with fake documents to claim ownership or undocumented farmer status which will help them to drag the case or get the support of a politician,” he said.

Cases in courts

Another senior officer said removing farmland from the ambit of the Act means the forest encroachment cases will now go to the JMFC (Judicial Magistrate) courts where officials have to rely on Karnataka Forest Act 1962 and Forest Conservation Act 1980.

“Though these two Acts provide for criminal procedure against encroachers, they do not match the weight and power of the Land Grabbing Act which deterred many encroachers. Considering that farmland constitutes 90% of the forest encroachment, its removal from the Act comes as the last straw,” he added.

Sources in the department said about 3 lakh applications have been received claiming forest land under the Forest Rights Act. “Of this, nearly 2 lakh applications have been rejected and another 85,000 are pending,” the source said.

Former PCCF B K Singh said the figure of 2.04 lakh acres was an underestimation that was also outdated. “The department has been giving these figures since 2010. Removing the farmlands from the ambit of Land Grabbing Prohibition Courts will take away the only deterrence. A scientific survey that has to measure the occupation with historical data needs to be done. If the state is serious about protecting the livelihood of people, it has to protect forests from encroachment,” he added.

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