With many cases of powerful people grabbing Government lands in connivance with officials coming to fore, the State Government is mulling to set up a special court to punish the land offenders.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already given his green signal to a proposal in this regard, mooted by the Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Bijayashree Routray, said official sources.
The Sub-Committee has reportedly pointed out a special court is felt necessary as land belonging to Government, Urban local Bodies, Bhoodan Jagyan Samiti, Wakf Board and Endowment Properties are being grabbed and dealing with these offenders has turned to be a herculean task.
The huge list of Dr Taradatt-headed Taskforce has revealed the extent of land grab under the Discretionary Quota (DQ). “A special court can answer to this malady. The State Government needs to come up with a new act to set up the proposed court,” said an official.
States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have already enacted special Act for Prohibition of land Grab and have set up special courts for trial of land grab cases. The senior official said that proposed special court would be headed by a sitting or a retired Judge of High Court while other Judges will comprise sitting or former District Judges. Former bureaucrats might be considered as members of the court, the official said.
The special legislation to prohibit land grab would be stringent with provision imprisonment and fine for the offenders, informed the official. Besides, the Sub-Committee has advised to make the Odisha Prevention of land Encroachment (OPlE) Act more stringent to check land offices.