HMT land belongs to state, will remain forest land: Karnataka Minister Khandre

Bengaluru, Jul 11 (PTI) Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre on Saturday hit back at Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy over the HMT land issue, asserting that the territory is legally classified as forest land and will continue to remain so as it has not been diverted for non-forest purposes. He also said the ownership of the land rests with the state government and not HMT. Khandre, currently the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, who earlier held the portfolio of Forest in the recent Siddaramaiah government, was responding to Kumaraswamy's allegations over the issue and said he had no personal animosity towards the union minister and was not politicising development. Referring to Kumaraswamy's remarks questioning his credentials, Khandre said he would not stoop to making personal comments. While Kumaraswamy had said the HMT issue was before the court, he had simultaneously declared that the state had no right over the land. "It is for the judiciary, not Kumaraswamy, to decide the matter," he told reporters here. Khandre said the Supreme Court had consistently held that land once declared as forest would continue to remain forest unless it was lawfully diverted for non-forest use. The apex court had also held that environmental rights override ownership rights, he added. Clarifying the nature of the legal notice sent to HMT, Khandre said the Bengaluru Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) had not issued a notice but an order passed by a quasi-judicial authority under Section 64A of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, after giving HMT an opportunity to produce documents. "If HMT was aggrieved, it could file an appeal before the Conservator of Forests and later approach the High Court," he said. He noted that under the law, any reserved forest between January 1, 1901 and May 31, 1969 could be de-notified only through a formal government notification. If such a notification existed, it should be produced instead of making allegations, he said. Khandre also produced records to show that while forest land had been allotted to HMT, a similar allotment made to Bengaluru University was officially de-notified through a gazette notification dated February 24, 1969. The minister pointed out that the Union government itself had recognised the HMT land as forest and produced a 2018 letter from the Ministry of Environment, rejecting Karnataka's request for an NOC to facilitate the sale of HMT land. According to him, HMT had ceased operations and had reportedly approached the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in January this year seeking to strike off its name from the register. "Under Supreme Court rulings, land allotted for a specific purpose must be returned to the government if that purpose ceases. HMT has shut down, so how can the land be sold?" he asked. Responding to Kumaraswamy's criticism of his performance as Forest Minister, Khandre claimed that forest encroachments covering 252 acres of land worth about Rs 10,000 crore in Bengaluru had been cleared and afforestation carried out. Not even an inch of the reclaimed land had been sold, he added. He also said 120 acres of encroached forest land at Kadugodi had been reclaimed and planted with trees, inviting Kumaraswamy to inspect the site. Sharing the figures, Khandre said forest encroachments cleared in Karnataka stood at 400.76 acres in 2019-20, 762.74 acres in 2020-21 and 246.23 acres in 2021-22. After he assumed office as Forest Minister, the department cleared 3,116.36 acres in 2023-24, 3,108.35 acres in 2024-25 and 5,979.42 acres in 2025-26, taking the total to 12,204 acres in three years. He then questioned Kumaraswamy's performance as Union Steel Minister, asking what he had achieved in the last two years. Khandre said Kumaraswamy had announced on May 23, 2025 that Rs 8,000-10,000 crore would be invested to revive the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISL) at Bhadravati, with a Detailed Project Report to be ready within two months and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone before the end of the year. "More than a year has passed. Forget Rs 10,000 crore, not even 10 paise has come," he alleged. Referring to Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), Khandre alleged it caused environmental damage by raising the Lakya dam height without approval and failed to hand over forest land despite recommendations in the Karnataka Legislature's 2008-09 Public Accounts Committee report. Khandre also criticised NMDC, alleging its proposed steel plant at Veniveerapura in Ballari had failed to take off despite acquiring 2,857.54 acres in 2014 and receiving the land from KIADB in 2017. Rejecting Kumaraswamy's allegation that he was acting at someone else's behest, Khandre said, "I am nobody's puppet. I am working in the interest of Karnataka." PTI AMP ROH