There is a disturbing pattern of mistakes and negligence in land verification and compensatory afforestation recommendations by Karnataka Forest officials, says RTI activist. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO
The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has flagged anomalies of the state forest department in identifying land for compensatory afforestation (CA).
In the recent FAC meeting held in the last week of September, MoE&CC shelved the proposal submitted by M/s. MSPL Limited after finding a number of irregularities in the identification of land for CA in Belagavi district.
As part of the proposal, the company has identified non-forest land in Survey Nos. 6/3, 6/4, 6/5 and 6/6 in Amagaon Village, Jamboti Hobli, Khanapur Taluk and Belagavi District, situated within Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary and measuring about 30 hectares, for CA.
These lands were subsequently transferred and mutated in favor of the forest department in January 2023 and CA certificates were issued by the Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF), Belagavi Division, against two earlier proposals to clear the forest.
However, the minutes of the FAC meeting state that the same lands were later found to have been notified as “Deemed Forest” by the Government of Karnataka’s notification dated 5 May 2022. Despite this, the land was recommended for CA without proper verification of its legal and ecological status.
Subsequently, on 11 November 2024, the DCF, Belagavi Division, wrote to Deputy Commissioner Ballari to remove these survey numbers from the list of deemed forests, stating that the land had been purchased privately. Based on this, the former requested the deletion of the registration numbers from the list of supposed forests and confirmed that they were wrongly included, even though they were private property.
The above correspondence shows a contradictory sequence – the recommendation of private lands as “non-forest land” for CA and the later effort to remove them from the list of presumed forests, which is the basis of an informal approach to a serious topic.
Right to Information (RTI) activist Raghavendra said the matter exposed procedural errors and lack of due diligence within the forest department in identifying CA lands.
He pointed out that Belagavi forest division officials recommended compensation to at least 10 “ineligible beneficiaries” under the voluntary resettlement scheme from Talewadi village, even though the resettlement land was privately purchased by an individual from Hassan as part of the CA.
There is an alarming pattern of mistakes and negligence in land verification and CA recommendations by Karnataka Forest officials, Mr. Raghavendra said, urging the government to order a comprehensive ministerial inquiry and fix responsibility for such negligence. He warned that such lapses not only undermine public confidence but also defeat the very purpose and spirit of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
Published – 18 Oct 2025 20:22 IST
