Revenue dept begins drive to clear Kumaraswamy family's land encroachment

The state Revenue Department on Tuesday initiated measures to clear the encroachment of 14 acres of land in Ramanagara district in Karnataka, allegedly by the family of Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, official sources said.

Following the High Court's direction to reclaim government land from encroachment, the Revenue Department, in coordination with district authorities and the police department, deployed earthmovers.

In January this year, the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the encroachment of government land in Kethaganahalli village, Bidadi, in Ramanagara district.

The SIT found that 14.04 acres of land in survey numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, and 79 had been encroached upon, based on a joint survey conducted by the Revenue Department and the Survey Settlement Department, sources said.

 

The case of encroachment is currently pending before the High Court.

During a hearing on Monday, the court took a strong view of the failure to implement its eviction order.

The matter has been posted for hearing on March 19, with directions to Revenue Department officials to submit a status report.

Meanwhile, R Devaraju, on behalf of Kumaraswamy, wrote to the district authorities on March 15, requesting them to recover the land if any encroachment was found and to identify his land that was lost' in the same village.