Orissa HC Lets Govt Panel To Decide On Lingaraj Land Encroachment Issue, Disposes PIL

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has disposed of a 22-year-old petition alleging encroachment on properties of Lord Lingaraj and left it to a committee formed by the government in 2003 for the purpose to take care of it.

A two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice AK Mohapatra told the petitioner that he was open to go to the committee if he had any information on land of Lord Lingaraj illegally possessed by anyone and not acted upon by it, not later than February 1, 2022. The committee will then examine the details and forward the same to the Commissioner of Endowment and the Collector, Khurda, for further action as admissible under the law.

Of the 157 reported cases of encroachment, only12 cases have been resolved so far, according to a government affidavit. In 45 cases, the orders to vacate encroached land have been challenged in various courts. In another 65 cases, tehsildars are finding it difficult to deliver the physical possession of the deity’s land.