Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is taking steps for the establishment of three more Odisha Development Authority (ODA) courts to ensure prompt resolution of disputes over building plan approvals in areas under its jurisdiction.
There is a huge backlog of cases as there is only one ODA court dealing with thousands of minor and major disputes. Once the more courts are set up, designated officers sill be deployed to hear and resolve cases. An estimated 7,000 disputes are pending for disposal, TOI quoted BMC officials as saying.
The court is empowered under the ODA Act, 1982, to decide on the violation of building rules. Earlier, the court functioned under the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). It started operating under BMC from Nov 2016.
As per the initial plan, the cases will be distributed among the zones according to allotted disputes of a respective zone. “Three additional commissioners, one in each zone, will be designated as authorised officers to hear the cases,” said BMC additional commissioner Suvendu Sahu.
He made the statement on the sidelines of a recent discussion in a corporation meeting where BMC commissioner Rajesh Patil expressed the view that opening of more ODA courts will reduce the burden on a single court.
