The High Court of Karnataka on Monday asked Kannada actor Ganesh to reply within a week to the notice by the Forest Department asking him to stop construction work on his land coming under the eco-sensitive zone of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
Also, the court directed the Forest Department to decide within four weeks from the date of receipt of reply from Mr. Ganesh on the notice, issued to him on August 14, asking him to stop works on building a farm house on his land, measuring about one acre and 24 guntas at Jakkalli, Hanagala hobli, Gundlupet taluk, Chamarajanagar district. The actor had purchased the land in 2022.
Meanwhile, the court directed the forest authorities to not take any coercive action till completion of the proceedings though it declined to grant stay on further proceedings based on the notice issued to him.
Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while disposing of a petition by Mr. Ganesh. The actor had questioned the legality of the notice issued to him by the Bandipur Eco-sensitive Zone Monitoring Committee.
The notice was issued based on media reports on alleged violation in construction and an inspection carried out by officials to verify the allegation of permanent structures being put up in violation of the permission, granted by the monitoring committee in March 2023 to construct temporary residential building on the land and to put up fencing all around the land.
The actor had complained in the petition that he had put up only columns to build temporary residential building and using the earthmover for planting 10-year-old trees by way of transplantation as part of plantation activities. He also claimed that the notice was issued without actually inspecting the land.
