land is an increasingly scarce resource, and for obvious reasons its value appreciates and increases. It is, therefore, imperative that Government protects its lands from encroachment and illegal occupation/utilisation. Having analysed (last week) the facts and mechanics of land grabbing/hoarding by industrial houses, it is time we had a look at the encroachments on Government land to subserve the same illegal object.
For Government lands, encroachment cases are to be filed against the unauthorised occupants, who are liable to be summarily evicted under Sec 7 of the OPlE Act, 1972. As of November 2011, 1,50,784 acres of Government lands remained under encroachment in our State, the maximum encroachments being in Sundargarh district (70,215 acres) and the minimum in Boudh (156 acres) as per the records of the Revenue Department. Filing of encroachment cases was completely sporadic. The encroachment cases were not followed up and encroachers were allowed to occupy the lands after applying for lease in a routine manner. There was no mechanism to monitor vacation of encroachments by initiating legal action in each case and successfully following them up at the district level or State level. This encouraged encroachment as a modus operandi for grabbing land.
The records of Tehsildar, lanjigarh reveal that 67.37 acres of Government land valued at Rs 67.72 lakh including 56.77 acres of village forestland has remained under unauthorised occupation of an industry since 2004. Joint physical inspection conducted (April 21, 2011) by Audit and Tehsildar also confirmed unauthorised occupation of 4.31 acres of community Government land (Gramya Jangal: 3.16 acres, others: 1.15 acres) by the industry. Similarly, as per the report (January 28, 2011) of Revenue Inspector, lanjigarh, 3.67 acres of private land remained under unauthorised occupation of the same industry since February 2009, though the lA Act did not permit taking over possession of land before issue of notification under Sec 4(1) and without the consent of the concerned landowners. The Rrvrnue Department admitted (November 2011) that no monitoring mechanism was in place to watch the land-use and prevent hoarding. It also stated that no enforcement agency was available to resume the unutilised / misutilised / encroached lands.
In five cases, Government land of 101.03 acres (present approximate value Rs 7.37 crore) was encroached by four MoU and one non-MoU-based industries. In 696 cases in different IEs of IDCO, 109.918 acres valued at Rs 56 crore at the IDCO rate, remained under encroachment by different industries/persons other than allottees.
As of March 2013, 16.923 acres remained under encroachment of an educational institute in Bhubaneswar. The land value was Rs 12.69 crore at the IDCO rate. But the IDCO did not take any action to evict the encroachments. This jeopardised the opportunity for allotment of this land to other entrepreneurs, whose proposals for allotment were dropped (2005-12). IJBishnu Enterprises (Kalunga Industrial Estate, Rourkela Division) was allotted one acre in April 1984. IDCO Rourkela Divisional Head noticed (December 1985) that the company encroached the adjacent 0.93 acre and erected illegal constructions. The IDCO issued notices from December 1985 onwards to vacate the land by removing all constructions within seven days. The lands still remain encroached.
After land acquisition for setting up industrial estates, layout plans were to be prepared by the IDCO with plotting arrangements for plot allotment to industrial units, along with provision for roads, drains, open spaces, etc. In nine out of the 167 cases covering three industrial estates (Chandaka, Mancheswar and Bhagbanpur), nine plots with 12.702 acres valued at Rs 3.03 crore were locked on all sides and could not be allotted mainly due to defective preparation of layout like small/narrow patch, passing of high voltage line, etc. These were found to be encroached. Out of these nine units, while the encroached plots of six were regularised in November 2009 by way of allotment in favour of the encroachers, no action was taken against the remaining three units. Absence of appropriate detection and enforcement mechanism with the IDCO led to encroachment of IDCO and Government lands by industries. The Industries Department admitted (April 2013) the facts stating that action would be taken to evict the encroachers. On the issue of encroachment through landlocked plots, the department stated (April 2013) that some plots were left landlocked due to mistakes committed during layout planning. It also stated that these encroachments were regularised with penalty as there was no other option. Such instances demonstrate that absence of proper planning, reporting and enforcement mechanism facilitated land encroachments by industries.
law says encroached land cannot be regularised unless the encroacher is a “landless person”. Additionally, the Chief Secretary instructed (June 2010) not to regularise land encroachment by outsiders/trespassers. The Revenue Department ordered (November 2010) that the land occupied without the approval of competent authority be treated as encroachment and evicted. Further, no Act/Rule empower the IDCO to regularise any encroachment of land by promoters/industries. However, the IDCO instructed (September 2004) its field offices to regularise encroachment of its adjoining plots by lawful tenants, if the encroached area would not affect overall planning. Further, the IDCO Board decided in February 2008, February 2009 and November 2010 to regularise encroachments though no such power was vested with the board. It has also been found that in eight test-checked IDCO Divisions, out of 5,488.243 acres in IEs, 36.910 acres valued at Rs 25.20 crore (IDCO rate) which were encroached by 25 allottees were subsequently illegally regularised contrary to the OPlE Rules.
IJThe IJVenkateswar English Medium School (Infocity, Chandaka), a non-allottee, encroached and constructed a massive structure on IDCO land of 1.734 acres prior to 2006. The Sub-Committee of the High level land Allotment Committee for Bhubaneswar Master Plan Region (BMPR) approved (August 2010) regularisation of the encroachment deviating from the decision (June 2010) of the Chief Secretary as well as the decision of February 2, 2008 of the IDCO Board, which decided not to regularise encroachment by outsiders under any circumstances. The Industries Department tried to draw an untenable distinction between “encroachment” and “unauthorised occupation” and regularised such cases. Such illegal regularisation provided incentive to encroach Government land and subsequently get it regularised in defiance of law.
A university applied (April 2010) for additional 14 acres in the Chandaka IE contiguous to its encroached land and offered to get the same vacated from the encroachers at its own risk and cost, in case the land would be allotted to it. The IDCO lAC agreed to it and decided (April 2010) to allot 14 acres of the encroached land to the institution. An in-principle allotment order was also issued (October 2010). This was despite the IDCO Board’s decision (April 2004) not to entertain any further applications for regularisation of any encroachment in Chandaka. Similarly, the IDCO allowed six entrepreneurs/ allottees to remove encroachments from 17.838 acres in three IEs and allotted land to two (lexus Paint Utkal and Shree Mahaveer Ferro Alloys) out of the above six entrepreneurs after successful removal of encroachment by them. An internal mechanism to evict encroachers was absent and illegal benefits were granted to those who claimed they would evict the encroachers.
These details speak for themselves. They manifest organised encroachment of Government lands and the Government’s willingness to illegally legitimise the growing trend of illegal grabbing of limited public resources. An analysis of the beneficiaries indicates that it is the affluent and the rich who have and are resorting to illegal, unjust enrichments. law permits the “landless” to be helped with the provision of this basic necessity in a very limited manner. But in reality, the situation is otherwise. We continue showering bounties on the affluent by helplessly overseeing illegal encroachments and grabbing of the decreasing quantum of land in the Government’s hands. A society that remains a mute witness to such a state of affairs is aiding the denudation of one of its vital and limited resources. Are these indicators of good governance and of a genuine concern for the ever-increasing number of ‘landless’ poorIJ And this certainly concerns us.
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)