In the ongoing dispute over land held by Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd at Jalahalli in Bengaluru, the public sector unit has been directed to return 430 acres and 21 guntas in Peenya Plantation and Jarakabande Sandal reserve to the Forest Department within 30 days. A court ruled the area to be forest land.
Under Section 64 A of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, the authorised officer and Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru Urban, N. Ravindra Kumar, determined that Survey numbers 1 and 2 of Peenya Plantation and Survey numbers 18 and 19 of Jarakabande Sandal reserve qualify as forest land.
The court described HMT’s possession as unauthorised and illegal. It instructed the local Range Forest Officer to begin eviction proceedings if the company does not comply. HMT may appeal to the Conservator of Forests (Territorial), Bengaluru.
Former Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre had started efforts to reclaim the land for conversion into a tree park. The move sparked political debate after Union Industries Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy objected. HMT approached the Karnataka High Court, which barred the Forest Department from taking possession without following legal procedures.
Between 1996 and 2006, HMT transferred about 178 acres and 7.2 guntas from the same survey numbers to 44 government agencies, institutions and private entities.
The Forest Department noted that the Maharaja of Mysore had declared 599 acres in Peenya Jalahalli Plantation and the relevant survey numbers in Jarakabande Sandal reserve as forest land in 1901 and 1932. The state government stated the land was never denotified under the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963. In 2018, the Union Environment Minister confirmed the land remained forest land as of October 25, 1980, and fell under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
HMT defended the transfers as part of a rehabilitation package after being declared sick by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. It cited a 1961 government order granting 216 acres, grant certificates for 180 acres 26 guntas and 77 acres 20 guntas, and a gift deed for 185 acres based on a 1963 order.
The Deputy Conservator of Forests order of June 15, 2026, referenced Supreme Court rulings in State of Bihar v. Banshi Ram Modi (1985) and T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India (1997). It held that any diversion of forest land requires valid authority and central approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The Deputy Commissioner lacked power to alienate forest land, as noted in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1997).
HMT failed to produce original government orders or evidence that the land had been de-reserved. The Forest Act, 1980, prohibits de-reservation or diversion without prior Union government approval.
The order stated that HMT, aware of the forest status, should have returned the land to the state when it was no longer needed. Transfers to third parties must now be reviewed under forest laws and environmental obligations.
