HC Issues Notice on PIL Seeking Restoration of 711-Acre Kadugodi Forest Land

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday issued notice to the State government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking the restoration of the 711-acre Kadugodi plantation area near Whitefield as forest land, challenging its diversion for industrial use since 1985.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha passed the order on the petition filed by the Namma Whitefield RWA Federation Trust.

According to the petitioner, survey number 1 in Kadugodi was originally recorded as forest land in government records dating back to 1896. The area was initially notified under the Rules for Administration of Forests and Wasteland in the Territories of His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore, 1878. A subsequent notification in June 1896 declared more than 24,000 acres across Bangalore, Kolar, and Tumkur districts as government plantations, which included the 711 acres in Kadugodi.

The petitioner pointed out that this forest status was further confirmed under the Mysore Forest Act of 1900 and a January 1901 notification that declared these tracts as State Forest.

Despite this continuous forest classification, the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) issued acquisition notifications in 1985 and 1987 to acquire parcels of the land for industrial layouts. The petition contends that these acquisitions were carried out without the mandatory de-notification of the forest land and without obtaining prior approval from the Union government under Section 2 of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, formerly known as the Forest Conservation Act.

The plea also cited reports stating that in June 2025, the State Forest Department reclaimed 120 acres of the Kadugodi plantation, valued at roughly ₹4,000 crore. However, the Revenue Department has since staked a claim over the same land, triggering an inter-departmental dispute.

The petitioner has asked the High Court to quash the KIADB acquisition notifications, cancel all land allotments made to private industrialists, direct a court-monitored joint survey of the entire 711-acre expanse, and restore the land entirely to the Forest Department.