A recent Supreme Court order has directed the Karnataka government to evict 147 people who have together appropriated 611 acres of land in Tathkola reserve forests. One of them ordered to be evicted is B.L. Shankar, now chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council. The three-judge bench comprising outgoing Chief Justice B.N. Kirpal, Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat held that all those encroachers who do not voluntarily hand over the land to the government will have to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh per hectare per month.