Cabinet okays order to punish land sharks

Cabinet okays order to punish land sharks
Deccan Herald

In a bid to crack down on land sharks, the State Cabinet on Friday decided to promulgate an ordinance to punish those grabbing government land with imprisonment of up to three years. Even the officials who are hand in glove with the land grabbers are liable for imprisoned.

The decision to amend the Karnataka Land Revenue Act to include the imprisonment clause against land grabbers had been taken by the Cabinet at its meeting in Belgaum on Sept 27.

At the Friday’s meeting, it was decided to expedite the process by promulgating an ordinance instead of waiting for the next legislature session to table the amendment bill. The proposed amendments also provide for slapping a fine of Rs 10,000 for land grabbing.


Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti said the amendments would include a clause relating to “crime and punishment” in the Karnataka Land Revenue Act. This would make land-grabbing an offence. The proposed amendments would be used as a weapon against encroachment of government land, mainly in the urban areas of Bangalore and other city corporations.

He said though several agencies had been formed to tackle the problem of land grabbing, they had been rendered toothless as there was no severe punishment for land grabbing at present.

Government sources told Deccan Herald that nearly 21 lakh cases of land grabbing had been reported from various parts of the state. So far, 15 lakh cases had been disposed of, including regularisation of 4.5 lakh cases. Sources said that nearly 30 lakh acres of government land is estimated to have been encroached upon by various individuals and agencies.

The modus operandi of the land sharks was to divide the grabbed government land into various small sites and sell them off immediately to unsuspecting people by creating false documents. In this background, any delay in launching a crackdown against land grabbing would result in more damage, the sources said.

The Cabinet also decided to provide more powers to the regional commissioners in this regard.

MUNICIPAL ACT TO BE CHANGED

B’lore closer to becoming Greater

The State Cabinet on Friday gave green signal for amending the Karnataka Municipal Act to form Greater Bangalore by increasing the number of wards from the present 100 to 150, reports DHNS from Bangalore. The government had on Nov 3 issued a notification for the formation of Greater Bangalore by including the urban local bodies surrounding the city. With Friday’s clearance, the stage has been set for completion of another formality. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti said the number of wards would be increased by the time elections were held for the proposed body, hinting that the next elections in the City would be for Greater Bangalore civic body. The Cabinet cleared a proposal to upgrade the stadium in Shivajinagar at a cost of Rs 7.89 crore. The Cabinet also decided to sell 27.18 acres of government land in Vasanthpura village in Bangalore South Taluk to the Iskcon Charitable Trust at a concessional rate — Rs 36 lakh per acre which is 50 per cent of the prevailing guidance value.

The land had earlier been given on a 30-year lease to the Iskcon for developing as a heritage theme park as part of tourism promotional programme, the minister said. However, now the Iskcon has been allowed to purchase the land at a concessional rate.