Orissa HC Orders Tehsildar To Plant 50 Trees As Penalty

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has ordered a tehsildar to plant at least 50 saplings as a penalty for imposing fine on a woman without hearing her case.

As per the case, the woman, Mita Das of Kendrapada district, was staying in a thatched house constructed on state government land in Kakatpur block of Puri district.

As a penalty for encroachment, Kaktpur tehsildar Biranchi Narayan Behera had imposed a fine on Mita in September last year. Later, Mita filed a petition in the High Court stating that the tehsildar had imposed fine without hearing her case.

After hearing the petition, the single-judge bench of the High Court Justice Biswanath Rath in its order on Wednesday said the tehsildar has responsibility to find whether the encroacher is an educated and law knowing person or not.

Besides, he has to ascertain whether the encroacher belongs to weaker section or is downtrodden not having sufficient income to take aid of counsel.

As a penalty, the bench ordered tehsildar Behera to plant at least 50 saplings on roadside in CDA area of Cuttack. The court also directed Revenue and Disaster Management department and Law department to ensure that the tehsildars do not to repeat such mistakes in future.