A kilometre to the east of Holenarasipur town, a politically significant place in Hassan district in south Karnataka, a verdant landscape dotted with coconut trees and neatly planted rows of maize greets travellers. It’s a picturesque sight that would make anyone pause for a moment and take a deep breath. A small board bears the name: Suranahalli.
The wetland on the banks of the Hemavathi River is suitable for paddy cultivation. People here earn a regular income from dairy farming, too, by selling milk to the Hassan Milk Union, one of the best-performing dairies in the State. However, over the last three decades, most of the village’s families have hardly seen any financial growth. Behind this is the tale of their land, caught in legal battles and political rivalry.
Two prominent political families belong to the area: former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda represented the Holenarasipur Assembly constituency for nearly three decades, and Puttaswamy Gowda, who contested as an Independent candidate against him in 1985. The animosity between the two has grown over the years as the next generations entered politics. People of Suranahalli have, by and large, stood by Puttaswamy Gowda. They believe this is the reason former Minister H.D. Revanna, son of Deve Gowda, targeted them whenever he was in power.
Revanna is currently in the news as an accused in two criminal cases against him: for allegedly kidnapping a woman and sexually harassing a former domestic help. His son and MP Prajwal Revanna faces charges of sexually abusing many women and is facing a Special Investigation Team probe.
Besides the housing project, the landowners have also suffered because of a road project that was planned for the same locality. | Photo Credit: SATHISH G.T.
As Minister in the 90s
When Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister in 1996, giving up his Chief Minister’s post, J.H. Patel succeeded him. He inducted Holenarasipur MLA Revanna into his cabinet and offered him the Housing portfolio. “He proposed a housing project by acquiring wetlands in 1996,” said S.H. Mohan Kumar, a resident of the village and advocate.
A preliminary notification for the acquisition of 88 acres of land was issued on June 27, 1996. Though the land was fertile, the records were allegedly “created” to show it as barren land so that acquisition could be easy, according to Mohan Kumar. Within a year, a final notification was issued for acquisition. By 1998, the award for the land losers was fixed at ₹59,000 per acre. “By then, the market rate of the land was above ₹1 lakh per acre. We moved the court with a writ petition challenging the acquisition,” the advocate said.
Even as their petition was pending in the High Court, the Janata Dal government lost power in the 1999 Assembly elections. The party split into two, and both factions suffered defeat. Revanna, too, lost the battle for Holenarasipur. The Congress came to power under the leadership of S.M. Krishna.
Former Minister and Congress leader G. Puttaswamy Gowda supported the residents of Suranahalli. The Town Municipal Council (TMC) adopted a resolution in December 1999 stating that the highly fertile wetland was not required for the housing project. A year later, the TMC also issued endorsements to the landowners that the land was in the possession of the farmers.
Based on this resolution, the Congress government dropped the acquisition process in July 2000, relieving the landowners, said Suresh H.N., a retired government employee and resident of Suranahalli. A portion of his ancestral property was also a part of the 88 acres notified for acquisition.
However, the farmers’ joy did not last long. “Revanna ensured that the people, who were to be beneficiaries of the proposed housing project, challenged the de-notification order in court,” said Mohan Kumar. While the petition was before the court, there were again changes in the State government.
Following a hung Assembly in the 2004 polls, the Cong-JD(S) combination ruled the State under the leadership of Dharam Singh for 20 months. H.D. Kumaraswamy, then MLA, allegedly orchestrated a rebellion within the JD(S) and ensured JD(S)-BJP combine came to power under his leadership in 2006. A few months after the alliance assumed office, Revanna became a Minister, and he was allotted PWD and Energy portfolios. Besides that, he was the Minister in charge of Hassan district, too.
The land in Suranahalli, Holenarasipur taluk, that was notified for a housing scheme, forcing the residents to launch a legal fight to reclaim their land. | Photo Credit: SATHISH G.T.
Back to court
Revanna ensured that the land issue was revisited. On September 13, 2007, the JD(S)-BJP alliance withdrew the de-notification issued by the previous Congress government. The government maintained that the land was already in the possession of Holenarasipur TMC, and hence, the de-notification issued by the previous government was withdrawn. The farmers, yet again, moved the High Court.
During the proceedings, the court noted contradictory statements by the State government on the status of the land. While issuing the de-notification order, the government said the land was still in the possession of the farmers. However, while withdrawing the order (in 2007), the government said the land was already with the TMC.
“The court took note of the contradictory statements and gave a direction to the Revenue Department to hold an inquiry and find out the actual status of the land,” recalled Mohan Kumar.
On August 7, 2012, the then Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department declared that the land in Suranahalli was in the possession of the Chief Officer of Holenarasipur TMC. The farmers argued that the officer had arrived at this opinion even before listening to them. They were served a notice to appear before the officer on the day the report was finalised. Mohan Kumar alleges that the officer was “under pressure”.
In 2012, the landowners challenged the officer’s report in court with a writ petition. The court ruled in favour of the farmers. “Every time, we have to fight in court to get justice. We have been doing this since 2000. I don’t know how long we should continue with this,” rued Nanjunde Gowda, also a farmer in Suranahalli. The court’s ruling came in support of the farmers’ claim to ownership of the land again. By 2013, the Congress government, led by Siddaramaiah, had come to power in the state. “We put pressure on the government to return us our land. Hence, the government issued pahanis (documents of rights, tenancy and crops, or RTCs) in our name,” said Suresh.
But this has not solved their problems. They are not free to sell their land or take a loan by pledging it. “That is because again, Holenarasipur TMC adopted a resolution stating that it required the same land for the project. The council moved the court. Though pahanais of the land are in our name, it has been mentioned on the records that the matter is pending before the court. Hence, nobody can do any transaction on the land,” said Mohan Kumar.
Road to nowhere
Besides the housing project, the landowners have also suffered because of a road project that was planned for the same locality. When Revanna was the Minister for Public Works, he took up a project to build a 1.8 km-long by-pass for Suranahalli village. A road that intersects the village connects Holenarasipur and Channarayapatna towns.
“If there was a need to improve the road, the same could have been widened by taking additional land on either side. But Revanna, through Karnataka Road Development Corporation, proposed a by-pass road by acquiring about 15 acres of land,” said Mohan Kumar. Later, the work was handed over to the National Highways Division.
However, the work did not proceed. Currently, the incomplete two-way road leads nowhere. “The road was designed such that it intersects the land of Mohan Kumar, the advocate fighting for the farmers of the village. I don’t know how long we should continue to fight such issues,” wondered Suresh.
The notification to acquire the land required for the road was issued in 2006. Within a year, the road construction began. “There was no procedure to award compensation for the land losers. Half of the work was done and stopped later as we continued to protest. Nobody got compensation for the land taken for the road,” said 75-year-old Nanjunde Gowda, whose 13 guntas of land was acquired for the road.
Since 2007, he has not been able to either cultivate the land or sell it off. “I have two sons. I need to share the remaining land between my sons. But I have not been able to do so. Like me, many in the village have been suffering for decades,” he said.
Families suffer
Since 1996, the ownership of the land has been in dispute in the entire village. Around 200 families who own the land have fought legal battles all these years. “Many of them have died over the years without enjoying the land they inherited from their ancestors. The younger generation is also continuing the fight,” said Rajappa, a resident of the village.
For the majority of households in rural areas, agricultural land is the primary source of income. Whenever they face a major financial requirement, either to get children married, provide them with higher education, or attend to a medical emergency in the family, the farmers sell a portion of it or mortgage it to raise a loan. “We have not been able to do any of these things in the last 28 years,” said Suresh.
In recent years, the value of the land has increased due to urbanization. As this piece of land is part of Holenarasipur TMC, there are ample opportunities to convert it into residential layouts and earn profit. However, the owners of this land cannot alienate it or sell it to anyone. Ironically, this is also the reason why this area has remained green and not converted and sold as housing sites.
“The housing scheme was proposed to benefit poor people. However, the scheme has not been implemented so far. This clearly shows that the idea was to harass us. We have suffered for years. Many who fought for their land have died over the years. Who will bear the cost of our suffering?” asks Suresh, hoping that the dispute will be settled once and for all during his lifetime.
