K'taka Assembly passes Bill against land encroachers

Bangalore, Apr 11 (UNI) The Karnataka Legislative Assembly today passed by voice vote the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill, providing for imprisonment to Government land encroachers.

Replying to a discussion on the Bill, Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar said the Bill was aimed at curbing illegal encroachment of Government lands by anti-social elements. However, the Government would not harass innocent people in the name of encroachment, he clarified.

He declined to refer the Bill to a Joint Select Committee as suggested by Leader of the Opposition N Dharam Singh and others as they felt it had some inherent discrepancies.

Mr Shettar said the ordinance issued by the Government earlier had evoked tremendous response for initiating action against land grabbers. The House Committee, headed by Mr A T Ramaswamy, had found that 18,447 acres of Government land out of 1,18,668 acres in and around Bangalore had been encroached upon. Action had been initiated to recover 6,709 acres and the officials had filed criminal case proceedings against 943 people in 469 cases. Twenty cases had been filed against officials for their involvement and 102 had been arrested, he explained.

Amidst protests by the Congress leaders, Speaker Krishna put the Bill to voice vote and it was passed later.

UNI