Karnataka Forms SIT to Probe Land Encroachment by Art of Living

The Karnataka government has constituted a SIT to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the alleged encroachment of government land by Sri Sri Ravishankar's The Art of Living, its affiliated organisations and other parties in and around Kaggalipura village in Bengaluru South taluk, directing the panel to submit its report within three months. 

The order dated July 17, issued by the Revenue Department under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 and the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act, 2011, was shared by the Revenue Minister's office on Tuesday.

Headed by Regional Commissioner Amman Aditya Biswas, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprises senior revenue officials,



land records officers, a retired District and Sessions Judge serving as Litigation Management Adviser and other officers, with Kalimulla, Tahsildar, Yelahanka, designated as Member-Secretary. 

The SIT has been tasked with examining government and organisational records, verifying land grant documents, identifying original grantees and legal heirs, detecting forged or fraudulent records, scrutinising pending court cases, assessing environmental damage through satellite imagery, surveying public commons and water bodies, issuing summons to the respondents, determining the veracity of the alleged encroachments and recommending legal and administrative measures to safeguard government and public utility land.