2.54 lakh acres of encroached land recovered so far: Govt to Karnataka HC
Bengaluru: The state government submitted to the High Court on Monday that as on January 1 this year, it has recovered 2,54,248 acres of encroached government land,. Of the total 64,26,010 acres of government land, 13,05,878 acres have been encroached. Around 8,36,219 acres are under litigation. The remaining 4,69,659 acres were encroached and so far 2,54,248 acres have been recovered.
The state was making its submission following a PIL filed by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation in 2013, seeking the recovery of land encroached, as indicated in the reports submitted by the Joint Legislative Committee of the Legislature of Karnataka and the subsequent Report of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land. It also sought prosecution of government officials and private parties responsible for grabbing public land.
Following the submission, the division bench, headed by Chie Justice S.K. Mukherjee observed, “Although this court is not very happy with the progress for recovery of the encroached government lands, it seems that the government is serious in the matter. Mr R. Devdas, principal government advocate, submits that a special court has been constituted by the notification dated March 22, 2016. The government is expediting all the matters.” The high court posted the matter to October 3, 2016, when the government is expected to submit another report.
State approaches HC in seer case
The state government on Monday filed a criminal revision petition, challenging the order of a sessions court dated March 31 which dismissed all charges against Raghaveshwara Bharathi, the pontiff of the Ramachandrapura Mutt in a rape case. The lower court had dismissed charges on various grounds, mainly citing that neither the call records nor DNA samples derived from cloth stains had provided clinching evidence. A singer had accused Raghaveshwara Swami of raping her more than 150 times between 2011 and 2014.
