Jolt To Govt’s Padampur Plans As HC Puts Interim Stay On New Districts In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court restricting the Odisha government from creating new districts without its permission has come as jolt to its plan to upgrade Padampur sub-division in Bargarh district to a separate district.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice BR Sarangi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman on Thursday ruled that the process of reorganisation of district, which the state government wants to undertake may continue, but the state cannot pass any final order without the consent of High Court.

It further observed that new districts are being created without having any ‘guidelines or principles and at the caprice and whims of the government’.

The verdict followed a petition filed by Rairangpur District Kriyanusthan Committee president Akshaya Kumar Mohanty, in which had sought direction to the government to constitute a high-level committee under the chairmanship of an incumbent/ retired judge of the High Court to examine the demands for creation of new districts in Odisha and also district status of Rairangpur by including Bamanghati (commonly known as Rairangpur) and Panchapid (commonly known as Karanjia) sub-divisions.

Advocate General A K Parija, who appeared along with Additional Government Advocate D K Mohanty for the government, has sought some time to obtain instructions in the matter.

“On the basis of the pleadings available on record, it appears that the state is going to make further districts without having any guidelines or principles and at the caprice and whims of the government, new districts have been created. As such, with regard to power of formation of new district, save and except the report of the Justice Raj Kishore Das Committee in the year 1975 and the Cabinet Sub-Committee of 1991, nothing is made available or placed on record as to how to re-organize the districts in the recent days. Therefore, as the learned Advocate General prayed for and is granted time to obtain instructions in the matter, this court feels it necessary that the process of re-organization of district, which the state government wants to undertake may continue, but no final order shall be passed without leave of this court,” the court said.

The case has been listed for hearing, two weeks after the winter holidays.

In February, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that Padampur will get district status within a year. “I announced about Padmapur district last December. This must be done within one year,” he had said.

His party, BJD, had assured to create Padampur district in the run-up to the byelection there in December last year.

Besides Padampur, people of Kantabanji, Titilagarh, Athagarh, Dharmagarh and some other place have also been demanding separate districts.