The Orissa High Court has recently ordered the State Government to convert three NACs, Aska, Chhatrapur and Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district into municipalities within next four weeks.
Hearing a contempt of court petition filed by the Bhartiya Vikas Parishad, High Court Chief justice Dr BR Sarangi and Justice MS Raman issued the order on Oct 5.
Earlier, the HC had given an order on August 5, 2020 to convert these three NACs to municipalities and asked the State Chief Secretary to abide by the verdict in response to a public interest litigation filed in 2019. But the government didn't take any step in this regard and allegedly violated the court order.
Another contempt of court petition was filed for noncompliance of the court order. After this, the government asked the district Collector to send a report on the matter. The then Collector sent a proposal to the government in 2020, but there was no progress due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bharatiya Vikas Parishad president Surendra Panigrahy has said that the three NACs would very soon become municipalities if the government follows the court order immediately.