Karnataka: Plantation companies owe Rs 2000 cr in lease rentals to Govt, says Forest Minister Khandre
plantation companies including the Tata Coffee, owe about Rs 2000 crore in lease rentals and interest on dues to the Karnataka government, the state’s Forest, Environment & Ecology minister Eshwar B Khandre said on Tuesday, announcing legal steps to recover the money.
These companies have taken large swathes of forest land on lease from the pre-Independence era, and been growing plantation crops including coffee, tea, rubber, and pepper. These plantations are dotted across the state including Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Chamarajanagar.
The minister, sharing the details at a media conference, announced a special team headed by Principal Secretary (Environment) BP Ravi to recover the dues from the plantation companies.
The government would also form a special legal cell to pursue cases in courts to take possession of lands whose lease has expired.
The administration, during the British Raj, had awarded more than 5500 acres of forest land on long-term leases to companies for rentals as low as Rs 2 and Rs 7 per acre with some tenures extending up to 99 years. The government had continued some of these leases post-Independence, too, before the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act, Khandre said.
The State Government increased the lease rentals to Rs 5000 per hectare in 1997, but the companies moved the court challenging this raise as well as the interest on dues.
These companies have not paid rentals for decades now, the minister said.
He shared the details of the dues and the area under the lease as follows. Mercara Rubber (1074 acre, Rs 454 crore), Thomson Rubber India (625 acre, Rs 91.29 crore), Nilambur Rubber Company (713 acre, Rs 130.22 crore), Portland Rubber Estate (1288 acre, Rs 536.66 crore), Glenloren
