The Environment and Health Foundation (India) has filed a Writ Petition in the Karnataka High Court in order to stop commercial land conversions in Coorg(Kodagu) and as a related step, a legal notice has been issued to the present Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu, Dr. B.C. Sathish, asking him to revoke the illegal land conversion permissions given by him, in violation of the High Court order and also the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.
This was disclosed at a recent press conference held at Pathrakarthara Bhavan in Mysuru by Foundation Secretary Col. (Retd.) C.P. Muthanna.
Accompanied by advocate Deepak and Foundation Convener Roy Bopanna, Col. Muthanna said that the High Court had stayed the process of land conversions in Kodagu stating that the No Objection Certificate (NoC) for land conversions issued by the committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner is not valid to approve blanket land conversions.
“It is for consideration that conversion of coffee plantation lands, wetlands is in violation of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 and there is a High Court order in respect to that. We wish to caution the general public not to invest in purchase of any sites in the layouts being advertised in Kodagu as they may lose their hard-earned money due to purchase of illegally converted sites,” he stated
“Most of the layouts being established in Kodagu are by the rich and influential people. We request these people not to destroy Kodagu, the catchment area for River Cauvery for the sake of personal gain and we appeal to them to cancel their plans to establish commercial layouts in Kodagu and to return the money that they have taken from the purchasers,” Col. Muthanna added.
“The High Court is aware of the dangers of permitting commercial land conversion in the district given the environmental sensitivity of the region. These conversions pave way for greater urbanisation of Kodagu and will sound the death knell to River Cauvery which is the lifeline for crores of people in the downstream,” advocate Deepak said.
The land conversion in Kodagu district pertaining to coffee plantation land, wetland (Jamma and Sagu land) and Baane land (Jamma Baane and Sagu Bane) would be in violation of the provisions of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, he noted.
