Amnesty Scheme For Encroached Govt Land: HC Seeks Reply Within Four Weeks

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the state government asking it to furnish a reply in connection with the proposal to validate the illegal construction of buildings on encroached government land through its amnesty scheme.

Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the court directed the Urban Development secretary and nine urban development authorities to file counter within four weeks.

In its earlier directive to these officials, the court had sought a reply as to under which provision of the law, the state government has decided to validate the construction of buildings on government land.

On July 5, the Revenue Minister Maheswar Mohanty had informed the media that the state government is planning to regularise unopposed, the unclaimed non-slum encroached land where people have constructed houses.

The state government had in June announced the amnesty scheme ‘Sarbakhyama Yojana’ to validate the construction of unauthorised buildings and establishments in all urban areas across the state. The scheme is applicable to all unauthorized residential, commercial, institutional and clinical establishments coming under the jurisdiction of all nine development authorities in the state.