Bhubaneswar: Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan on Sunday warned of rigorous measures against those attempting to encroach upon and sell land owned by Lord Jagannath.
“Such illegal selling of Lord’s land will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against all involved, including the sub-registrars,” he told reporters, a day after Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) filed a police complaint over alleged attempts to sell such a land under Matitota mouza in Puri.
He emphasised the government’s zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of corruption and also revealed plans to resolve the land encroachment issue under 2003 Uniform Policy. “After the formation of the new Managing Committee, settlement of all the lands belonging to Lord Jagannath will be done as per the 2003 Uniform Policy. Several lands have been grabbed illegally not only in Puri, but in other parts of state. A small parcel of land will be given to the family at a concessional rate. The remaining encroached land will be sold at benchmark or the market value. This will help create a corpus fund of around Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 crore,” he said, adding that such lands inside Odisha have been identified.
According to official records, Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri owns 60,426.943 acre spread across 24 districts and the SJTA has the final record of rights (RoR) of 38,061.892 acre. These apart, 395.252 acre land in the name of Lord Jagannath is in six other states.
The complaint at Baseli Sahi police station pertains to a property, registered in the name of Puri Marfat Shri Jagannath Mandira Parichalana Committee, comprising 109 plots over 64.88 acre.
On Saturday, STJA Chief administrator Arabinda Padhee cautioned the public against engaging in such illegal activities, while warning of harsh legal ramifications for any further attempts to claim the deity’s property. He further stated that process of digitisation of all land belonging to ‘Shri Jagannath Mahaprabhu Bije, Puri Marfat Shri Jagannath Mandira Parichalana Committee’ has been started.
In September last year, then law minister Jagannath Saraka told the Odisha assembly 974 cases were filed under Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955, related to encroachment of Lord Jagannath’s land in different tehsils of the state.