Land dispute: Orissa High Court places ball in authorities’s court docket

By Express News Service
CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has left it to the State authorities to rethink and take a choice whether or not the land made accessible at Mangalaghat in Puri for Janmashtami celebrations is adequate.Jamuna Gadhua Buda O Nanda Utsav Surakshya Samiti had sought intervention towards diversion of communal land for building of a centralised kitchen which will likely be operated by an NGO implementing the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme in authorities colleges in Puri district. The land has been venue for age-old Janmashtami associated celebrations, the Samiti claimed. 

However, the federal government in an affidavit claimed that the 4.190 acre patch just isn’t communal land. The whole space has not been taken up for building of centralised kitchen. Only 1.650 acre will likely be utilised for building of kitchen, parking and motion of automobiles for clean provide of MDM to 409 colleges of the district. An space of 0.650 acre has been left for congregation of individuals in the course of the annual pageant, the federal government had clarified within the affidavit.

Disposing of the petition, the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray mentioned the Court is of the view that in a matter of this nature, the scope of judicial evaluation is restricted. In the sunshine of the averments within the authorities’s affidavit dated February 15, 2021 to the impact that nowhere within the income information it’s talked about that the land is reserved for a communal goal, the query whether or not the plot in query is for a communal goal is itself disputed”.

“Further, it is not for the Court to determine whether the land made available for holding the festival, even after construction of a common kitchen, is sufficient”, the bench noticed in its February 18 order, a duplicate of which was accessible on Thursday. 

Advocate General Ashok Kumar Parija referred to Section 3 of the Orissa Government Land Settlement Act, 1962 which allows the federal government to de-reserve any plot for communal functions.  The Court additionally requested the petitioner to make one other detailed illustration earlier than the federal government inside 10 days from the order searching for an alternate website.