Bengaluru, 30 May

Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre has revealed that action has been recommended against two retired IAS and IFS officers and as two IFS officers in the case related to seeking Supreme Court permission for the denotification of forest land worth over Rs 14,000 crore owned by the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT).

Khandre said that the land was not converted for non-forest purposes. Hence, according to multiple Supreme Court judgments and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, it remained a forest land. The land was being used for various commercial activities.

The minister said that the officers had submitted the interlocutory application (IA) without informing the then forest minister and the high-level committee formed to review forest land or obtaining prior cabinet approval.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, R Gokul had written to the CBI claiming he was being made a scapegoat for having earlier penalised ruling party MLAs in the Belikeri case. However, Khandre denied these allegations.

Khandre said that 280 acres of dense forest still exist. Yet, the IA submitted falsely claimed that the land had lost its forest character.

He has recommended to the State chief minister the suspension of Gokul, departmental inquiry and actions against the other officers.

The State government filed a petition in the Supreme Court to withdraw the IA.

The government also planned to develop a major park in HMT owned forest land, Khandre said.