The State Government on Wednesday decided to promulgate the Odisha land Grabbing (Prohibition) Ordinance-2014 once again to curb illegal land grabbing in the State.
A Cabinet meeting held under chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved the ordinance along with 13 other proposals."The November 1 Cabinet had approved to promulgate the ordinance on land grabbing. Before a notification was issued to promulgate the ordinance, the State Assembly was convened by the Governor. As a result, the ordinance could not be taken up as a Bill in the State Assembly. The Cabinet once again approved it so that it would be promulgated and made law within six months," Chief Secretary GC Pati told mediapersons after the meeting.He informed that no changes have been made to the earlier draft proposal of the ordinance.
As per the ordinance draft proposal, land grab offence would be treated as a non-bailable crime and the offenders would face minimum of seven years of jail term along with fine. Besides land grabbers, abettors would be also punished as per the Ordinance. A Special Court with powers of civil and sessions court would be set up for taking up the cases.The Cabinet also approved to amend the Odisha VAT Act. As per the decision, the Government increased VAT on petrol and diesel by three per cent with effect from midnight of Wednesday and Thursday. As a result, the price of petrol has been increased by Rs 1.49 and diesel by Rs 1.33.
A proposal to amend the Odisha District Planning Committee Act-1998 was also approved by the Cabinet. As per the proposal, both elected and nominated members of the committees would have now three years of tenure.The Cabinet approved a proposal pertaining to appointment of Advocate General Surya Prashad Mishra.