Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Jun 13: A Kerala-based land owner named Francis George, who runs a resort near the river bordering the government land at survey No 146 at Hengavalli village in the taluk, has termed the continuation of work of eviction of alleged encroachment at the resort premises on Thursday as illegal.
He said that he had secured stay order from the state high court against the continuance of this operation, and threatened to file contempt of court case against the government officials responsible.
Responding to George's allegation, Kundapur subdivisional officer, S Yogeshwar, said that his office has not received any information about the stay order having been issued relating to the operation.
After some locals alleged that the portion of land adjoining the river in Hengavalli had been encroached upon by George, the district deputy commissioner had ordered for necessary action. Accordingly, subdivisional officer and tahsildar had undertaken the work of inspecting of the land, verifying of the records, and reclaiming of the government land at the spot.
During the spot inspection, the deputy commissioner had ordered registration of criminal complaint against Francis George. On a complaint filed by the tahsildar, policemen of Shankarnarayana station had registered case under section 192 (a) of Land Revenue Act 1964. George has already obtained bail in this case.
George claims that he had, in the past, requested the concerned offices several times to mark the border of his property after conducting a joint survey by revenue and forest departments. Accusing the departments of failing to act on his pleas so far, he has charged them of having jumped into sudden action now because of political considerations. He says that he owns 9.62 acres of land under survey No 354 and another 1.5 acres in survey No 146, and that because of the negligence of revenue and forest departments, about two acres of land genuinely owned by him has been erroneously included in forest land. He also said that the river in dispute also is under his ownership. Stating that he had assured the revenue and forest departments in writing that he was ready to give every inch of land these departments are genuinely entitled to, subject to proof, he has charged these departments of failing to act on these petitions.
It is gathered that high court judge, Justice B V Nagarathna, while disposing off a writ petition filed in the matter on Wednesday June 11, had ordered the tahsildar to consider the objections/ reply and prayer for joint survey made by the petitioner dated May 30, 2014 and to pass a reasoned order on the subject. It is said that the high court had also ordered that no further action by the authorities shall be undertaken pursuant to notice dated May 30, 2014, till such an order is passed.