Annexure - N

NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES (NCPNR) Co-ordinating office: SAMAJ PARIVARTANA SAMUDAYA (SPS) Ashadeep, Jayanagar Cross,Saptapur, Dharwad- 580 001. Karnataka, India. No.701/SPS-NCPNR/2012-13 July 25, 2012 The Chief Secretary Government of Karnataka, Vidhana Soudha Bangalore-560 001 Sir, Sub: of Effective Public Implementation and its of the Report the

dt.30.06.2011 of the Task Force for effective Recovery Land Protection: Recommendations of the Report (Ch.13: page 90-96) especially the Prosecution of encroachers and public officials abetting the offences. Ref: 1) Report of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and Its Protection dated 30.06.2012 2) Our letter to PCCF dt.17.03.2012 and meeting of NCPNR delegation 3) Our earlier letters to you in this regard including a copy of the letter under ref.1 (enclosed for ready reference) 4) The Order of the Honble S.C. dt.28.01.2011

We have been working on the issues of Common lands for nearly 30 years now, in close cooperation with the local groups and the Governments in various parts of the country. We have been deeply concerned about the rampant encroachment of common lands including the grazing lands (gomal, also referred to in some parts as anadhin or Un Assessed Waste ASW), ponds/tanks, gamthana, gunduthope, burial grounds and lands under forests, animal husbandry (kaval) etc which includes the government and public lands and the lands belonging to statutory and local bodies in Karnataka. As brought out in the Report of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and Its Protection dt 30.06.2012 (ref.1); which has ascertained how 11.07 lakh acres of public lands have been encroached upon and illegal occupied all over Karnataka, as identified by the various departments of the Government (para 2 of Chapter 1 of the said report) We have written to the Government of Karnataka including Heads of some of the Departments in this regard such as; the meeting of the delegation of NCPNR with the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests on 17.03.2012 and letter written to him, with a copy to you (ref.2 and 3) regarding the encroachment of forest lands in Srinivasapura Taluka of Kolar district and thousands of acres of forest land encroachment in Chickmagalur district. We have yet to hear from him. We are writing again to request you to take urgent effective implementation of the said Report dt.30.06.2011 of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection based on the Recommendations of the Report (Ch.13: page 90-96) for the effective recovery of the public lands including and especially the Prosecution of encroachers and public officials abetting the offences; as provided under the law. We have been deeply concerned

about the lack of decisive actions, even though it is over one year since the Report was submitted by the then Chairman of the Task Force, Shri.V Balasubramanian. We also met with the Honble Lokayukta of Karnataka Justice Shri. Shivaraj Patil in August, 2011 who requested Shri.V Balasubramanian to estimate the amount involved in this case which came to be Rs.1.95 lakh crores more than the amount for the 2G scam. Shri.V Balasubramanian also met His Excellency, the Governor of Karnataka in September 2011 who wrote to the Chief Minister of Karnataka about the need to taking urgent action to remove the encroachments. As we have known from our experiences of over 30 years in rural area, that the lives large population of the rural poor are dependent on meager livelihoods from small pieces of agricultural lands and animal husbandry on grazing lands. Our studies in Karnataka and elsewhere in the 1980s had shown this when we along with Dr.K.Shivaram Karanth approached successfully the Honble Supreme Court early in 1987 (WP No. 35 of 1987) that led to the recovery of 75,000 acres of Community and forest lands in four malnad districts of Karnataka. The existing provision of law in the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, Karnataka Forest Act, Forest (Conservation) Act, etc. have given clear powers to Government for recovery of public lands and prosecution of offenders and their abettors as clearly pointed out in the report referred to above. It is therefore imperative on the part of the Government of Karnataka to implement the provision of law in this regard. We therefore look forward to hearing from you very soon about the action taken on the said Report and the area

of commons recovered out of the over 11 lakhs of acres encroached valued at over Rs.1,95,000 crores. With Best Regards, Yours Sincerely

S.R.Hiremath Founder President, SPS and NCPNR