The Department of Forests has asked the Lads of Sandur to vacate the 47.24 acres of forest land held by them illegally in the North-eastern Range forest block in Sandur taluk.
A notice has been served on Rajani Lad, wife of late Ashok Lad (brother of Congress MLA Anil Lad) with directions to vacate the forest land after removing all the structures that have come up on it, before July 30.
Amazing Valley Resorts was constructed by the Lads in Sandur taluk adjacent to the Narihalla. The Department of Forests, after a joint survey by the departments of Forests, Revenue and Survey and Land Records in 2012, held that the resort had come up on encroached forest land. A civil case was registered by the Department of Forests. The Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), Bellary, who tired the case, passed the orders to vacate the resort on November 30, 2013.
A criminal case was filed in a Sandur court in this connection.
The Lads filed an appeal before the Conservator of Forests, Bellary, against the AFC’s order. After hearing their plea, the Conservator of Forests upheld the AFC’s order.
The notice says that if the Lads fail to handover the land back to the Department of Forests, eviction would be taken up by the department itself under Section 109 of the Forest Act and it would recover the expenditure from them.
(The Hindu)
