Karnataka - Bangalore

HC takes State to task for lease of forest land

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the State Government for blindly leasing forest land in the Western Ghats to a paper factory in Uttara Kannada district.

A Division Bench comprising Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice Arali Nagaraj took to task the State for renewing the lease of forest land to the West Coast Paper Mills in Dandeli, Haliyal taluk.

The Bench was dealing with an appeal by the factory against a single judge order.

In its appeal, the factory said it was set up by the then Bombay Government in 1955 for manufacture of paper and paper board. The Bombay Government had then allotted 80 acres of reserve forest to the company. Subsequently, the then Mysore Government allotted an additional 16 hectares of forest land to the company.

The lease of forest lands to the company came to be regularly renewed. Meanwhile, the factory noticed that though some of the leased lands could not be categorised as forest lands, they were still being mentioned so in the revenue records and even in the record of rights. The company wrote to the Government seeking to change the entries.

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