The National Green Tribunal has issued notices to Karnataka’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Director General of the Union Environment Ministry over the reported conversion of 1,096 acres of reserved forest land in Sandur taluk of Bellary district into revenue land.
The NGT’s principal bench took suo motu cognisance of the matter based on media reports. The bench, headed by Chairperson Prakash Srivastava and comprising Dr Afroz Ahmad, observed that the state government had apparently violated the requirements of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, by converting forest land into revenue land.
The land is located in survey numbers 165/A, 165/B, 177/C and 1/B in Somalapur village, within Chorannur hobli. According to the report, the area had been notified as forest land on April 1, 1890.
The reported conversion relates to an order issued by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate on May 30, 2024, to classify the land as B-kharab revenue land. B-kharab is a revenue classification used for land recorded as uncultivable or otherwise excluded from regular cultivation. The tribunal’s notice concerns whether such a change in land status could be made without the prior approval required under central forest-conservation law.
Under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, forest land cannot be diverted for non-forest use without prior approval from the Union government’s environment ministry. The NGT bench’s preliminary observation, as reported by Prajavani, is that the conversion order was issued without securing that approval.
The case highlights the administrative significance of land records in areas where historical forest notifications and revenue classifications overlap. A change in revenue records can affect how land is treated by local authorities, but the tribunal’s proceedings will examine whether that process was legally sufficient when the land had been notified as forest.
The principal bench has transferred the matter to the NGT’s Southern Zone Bench for further proceedings. The notices require the concerned forest authorities to respond to the tribunal’s concerns regarding the land conversion and compliance with the Forest (Conservation) Act.
The next hearing is scheduled for November 2. The proceedings will determine the next stage of the tribunal’s examination of the reported conversion of the Sandur reserve forest land.
