Karanataka High Court adjourns hearing on contempt plea on Kethaganahalli land encroachment case

High Court of Karnataka adjourns contempt petition hearing, State government fails to implement Lokayukta's recommendations on land grants.

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned till April 3 further hearing on a contempt of court petition, which said the State government failed to adhere to an undertaking given to the court in 2020 to implement Lokayukta’s recommendations to hold an inquiry into the correctness of claims over grant of lands, situated in Kethaganahalli village of Bidadi hobli of Ramnagara taluk, to certain individuals, from whom Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and his relatives had purchased them several years ago.

Meanwhile, a division bench comprising Justice K. Somashekar and Justice Venkatesh Naik T. took on record a report submitted by Rajendra Kumar Kataria, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, who stated that the survey of the lands had been conducted after issuing notice. The bench gave 10 days to the government to file further report.

Mr. Kataria also told the court that a special investigation team was examining the lands in survey numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 79 of Kethaganahalli and sought more time from the court to undertake the exercise. He also said some documents were missing from the files and genuineness of some documents have to be ascertained.

The bench was hearing the contempt petition, filed in December 2020 by a non-government organisation, Samaj Parivarthan Samudaya, which had alleged that the government had failed to comply with the undertaking given to the court in July 2020 in a PIL petition filed by it.

The Lokayukta, in its August 5, 2014 report to the government had asked the Revenue Department to “hold a detailed and thorough enquiry about the grant or no-grant of the Government lands (gomala) bearing survey numbers 7, 8, 9, 10,16, 17 and 79 of Kethaganahalli village in favour of the vendors/donors of the persons found to be in possession of these lands”.

“In case if it is found that such grants of land were not there, then to take necessary legal steps for the recovery of the possession of the government land from the encroachers and also to initiate criminal action against the persons found trespassing into the government lands and also against the guilty officers/officials,” the Lokayukta report had stated.

During an earlier hearing on the contempt petition, the court questioned the government’s inaction despite giving an undertaking five years ago to implement the Lokayukta’s recommendations, following which the Government recently constituted the SIT to examine the issues and take action. On March 18, the Ramanagara district administration marked certain portions of the lands in the possession of Mr. Kumaraswamy claiming them as ‘encroached’ government lands.