K'taka warns action against officials issuing eviction notice to farmers

The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act. In a letter, the Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria reminded all regional commissioners and deputy commissioners in the districts that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently had a meeting following complaints about certain land properties being made in favour of the Karnataka Board of Waqfs. In the meeting it was decided that all the directions issued previously by any government office or authority to change the mutation records has been withdrawn, the letter said.
It added that all the notices served in the past have also been withdrawn and no action should be taken against the farmers who are cultivating on the said land. On the directions of the chief minister, the previous letters and the latest reminders served on November 7 to the farmers and land owners have been withdraw, the letter said.The fresh direction was issued in poll-bound Karnataka, where bypolls to three crucial assembly segments are due on November 13. Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged last month that they were served eviction notices as the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.
On October 25, BJP leader Tejasvi Surya accused Karnataka’s Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan of directing deputy commissioners and revenue officials to register land in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days leading to confusion. In response to these claims, Jagdambika Pal, Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, visited Karnataka on November 7 to meet with farmers in Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts who alleged their lands were being marked as Waqf properties. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Board of Waqfs has identified 17 monuments inside the historic Bidar Fort in Karnataka as its property, sources in the district administration said on November 6. These properties are among the major landmarks of the fort located in the district headquarters town of Bidar. 

(State Correspondent)