The Karnataka High Court has issued notices to the State Government and several senior officials on allegations of illegal encroachment and layout formation in the catchment area of a historic lake in Choulahiriyuru village of Kadur taluk in Chikkamagaluru district. It is a water body that was built in 1888 during the reign of the Mysore Maharajas and spreads over 102 acres.
The matter now comes before a Division Bench formed by Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice K.S. Bharath Kumar, hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by five villagers, including Jagadish. The petitioners have asked the court to protect the lake and remove encroachments from the catchment area and say the water body is slowly being affected by non-registered development activities.
After hearing preliminary arguments on behalf of the petitioners, the High Court issued notices to several respondents. These include the Chief Secretary of Karnataka, Additional Chief Secretaries of the Revenue Department, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department, and Minor Irrigation Department. Notices were also issued to the Chikkamagaluru Deputy Commissioner and the Executive Engineer of the Minor Irrigation Department in the district.
The court has directed the government authorities to explain the claims that layouts have been formed and sites allotted within the lake’s catchment area. The matter will be brought up in court again on October 28 for further hearing when the respondents will have to answer the questions posed in the petition.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioners said the lake was constructed by Mysore Maharajas in 1888 in Survey No. 5 of Choulahiriyuru village. The petition says the lake is 102 acres and 33 guntas and has been a water source for the area since then. The petitioners claimed that some of the land and catchment area in the lake has been taken over over the years.
The petition also alleges that the local gram panchayat illegally created residential sites in the lake catchment zone and subsequently allocated those plots to residents. Khata certificates have been issued, and construction work has already begun on some of the allotted sites, it alleges. Such activities pose a serious threat to the ecological and hydrological status of the historic lake, the petitioners said.
In stressing the imperative to sustain water bodies, the petitioners asked the court to direct the authorities to remove all encroachments and demolish any unauthorised structures that may have been built in the protected area. If they did not do so, they said, the lake ecosystem would become irreversibly damaged, and groundwater recharge and water conservation efforts in the area would be negatively affected.
Furthermore, the petitioners requested that the Gram Panchayat President be made a respondent in the case. They also asked for the Chikkamagaluru Deputy Commissioner to conduct a detailed survey of the area, visit the site personally, and present to the court a detailed report on the extent of encroachment and development activities within the boundaries and catchment area of the lake.
The case has attracted attention to the larger issue of preserving historical lakes and water bodies across Karnataka. Environmental experts and residents have frequently raised concerns about urbanisation, unauthorised layouts, and encroachments on natural water resources. The outcome of this case will be of great importance to lake conservation efforts and the enforcement of environmental and land-use regulations in the state.
Now that the government and the concerned people will be asked to explain themselves by the High Court, the next hearing will be on whether the encroachments have violated laws meant to protect public water resources and environmentally sensitive areas.
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