Massive 430-acre Peenya Plantation land ordered back to Forest Dept

In the ongoing controversy over the land in possession of the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) Ltd. at Jalahalli in Bengaluru, the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) has been asked to hand over 430 acres and 21 guntas in Peenya Plantation and Jarakabande Sandal reserve to Forest Department within 30 days after a court found it to be forest land.

During the proceedings conducted under Section 64 A of Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, the court of the authorised officer and Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru Urban, N. Ravindra Kumar, found that the lands in Survey no 1 and 2 of Peenya Plantation and Survey no 18 and 19 of Jarakabande Sandal reserve as forest land.

Terming the possession of land by the HMT as unauthorised and illegal, the court has asked the jurisdictional Range Forest Officer to initiate eviction and recovery process in the event the PSU fails to comply with the order. The HMT can appeal before the Conservator of Forests (Territorial), Bengaluru.

While former Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre had initiated recovery of the land to be later converted to a tree park, it had led to a political slugfest after Union Industries Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy took objection to the move. The HMT had also moved the Karnataka High Court, which restrained the Forest Department from dispossessing the land without due process of law.

Between 1996 and 2006, the HMT alienated about 178 acres and 7.2 guntas situated in Survey No 1 and 2 of the Peenya plantation and Survey no 18 and 19 of the Jarakbande Sandal reserve in favour of 44 government agencies, institutions, organisations and private establishments.

During the proceedings, the Forest Department pointed out that the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore declared 599 acres in Peenya Jalahalli Plantation and the entire survey numbers in Jarkabande Sandal reserve as forest in 1901 and 1932 respectively.

The State government has also pointed out that the land has not been denotified under the provisions of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963. In 2018, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change also confirmed that the lands were forest land as on October 25, 1980 and came under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.

Justifying the sale of land as part of the rehabilitation package after the PSU was declared sick by Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), the HMT placed the 1961 Government Order that sanctions 216 acres in its favour, produced grant certificate relating to 180 acres 26 guntas and 77 acres 20 guntas in the Peenya Plantation and a gift deed executed between Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner and the HMT connected to transfer of 185 acres based on a 1963 Government Order.

However, pointing to Supreme Court orders in the State of Bihar v. Banshi Ram Modi (1985) and T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India (1997), the DCF’s order on June 15, 2026 said that any diversion of forest land must trace its authority strictly to valid compliance and Central approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. It noted that the Deputy Commissioner acted only as an executing authority and had no independent power to alienate forest land, citing the Supreme Court ruling in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1997).

It also noted that the HMT had failed to produce original Government Orders under which lands were allegedly released and transferred. The HMT also did not produce any material to show that the lands were de-reserved. Incidentally, the Forest Act, 1980 prohibits de-reservation or diversion of forest land without prior approval of the Union government.

“The HMT, being fully aware of forest character of the lands allotted to it ought to have returned the lands to the State government when they no longer required for the purpose for which they were granted,” the order said. It noted that the transfer of land made by the HMT in favour of third-party establishments are liable to be examined in light of applicable forest laws and constitutional environmental obligations.