The Karnataka government has returned the reclaimed Shakti Hills Resort land to its owner, acting on a High Court order, L.C. Nagaraju, assistant commissioner for the Bengaluru South subdivision, said on Tuesday.
"According to the High Court order, we gave back the keys at 4:30 pm on Monday," said Nagaraju. The resort owner R. Arunachalam also confirmed the development and said the resort was open for business now.
But Nagaraju contented that the six acres of land in question belonged to the government. "The government land for public purpose has been encroached upon. Tomorrow onward, we will issue a notice to Shakti Hills Resort and after 15 days we will pass an appropriate order."
As many as six acres of Shakti Hills Resorts land was reclaimed by the Bengaluru urban district authorities in an anti-encroachment drive on Saturday.
The authorities alleged that Arunachalam encroached six acres of government land in survey number eight of Bengalur South Taluk, adjacent to survey number 183 where he bought eight acres of land and built an office room, 18 guest houses, one swimming pool, and a temple.
Arunachalam refuted the allegations and said: "I will face it, they cannot take even an inch of land from me. I have all the documents with me."
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He also said he planed contempt of court proceedings against government officials for allegedly disobeying the court's verdict and tresspassing into his private land.
Arunachalam also alleged that government officials were making false claims that the land on which Shakti Hill Resorts stands belongs to government by producing fake documents. He blamed some officials for misleading the authorities about Shakti Hills Resort.
He also said that he did now know who was behind the takeover attempt of his resort and termed the perpetrators to be extremely powerful to enter into his private property and make claims. He said it may take a couple of days to find out who is behind the takeover bid.
Shakti Hills Resorts has been operating since 2007, employing more than 350 people.