Cuttack: Days after issuing a restraining order, the Orissa High Court gave the go-ahead for Mission Shakti Market Complex at Barabati Palace on the premises of Barabati Stadium in Odisha’s Cuttack city, on Thursday, while dismissing a PIL challenging the state government’s plans.
Pradip Patnaik, a city-based social activist, had filed the petition seeking intervention against use of Barabati Palace for purposes other than development of sports. Acting on it, the HC on July 28 issued an interim order restraining the authorities from going ahead with the tender process till the next date of hearing.
Senior advocate Durga Prasad Nanda, appearing for the petitioner, had then stated before the bench that the government had started the tender process for the Rs 1-crore project. The office of chief construction engineer (Roads & Buildings), Cuttack circle, had initiated the tender process for repair and renovation of Barabati Palace for functioning of the Mission Shakti market complex on May 22, 2023. Nanda sought the court’s direction to call back the tender process.
However, the division bench of Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra and Justice Savitri Ratho found ‘no merit in the PIL’, considering the history of utilisation of Barabati Palace, a Supreme Court order regarding it, and the counter affidavit filed by Cuttack collector. “We do not find that the petitioner has anything to say about the policy of the government to utilise a land which has been directed to be taken over by it also for commercial purpose. That apart as we look into the history of the utilisation of the land, it shows it was never exclusively utilised for sporting activities.”
Notably, Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) had rented out Barabati Palace for marriage and other social functions from 1999-2000 till five years ago.
The bench further noted that the space is not a part of Barabati Stadium. “We do not find the concern of the petitioner has any importance or that the purpose for which the Cuttack collector is using the plot can be diverted for other purposes”.
The Supreme Court had also ruled that the Barabati Palace and 23 shops had come up on .0705 acre of government land encroached by OOA adjacent to the 20.808 acre land leased out to it in 1949 for construction of the stadium.
In his affidavit, the collector stated that the objective behind the Mission Shakti Market Complex project “is not to earn revenue but to ensure empowerment of women SHGs of the district and to market their products throughout the year which will develop their livelihood”.
The court, however, directed that “the space shall be utilised in such a manner that should not create any disruption of traffic flow or movement of pedestrians on the road outside the space”.
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