The Orissa High Court on Thursday directed the Khordha district administration to first demarcate the Government land as claimed by the administration and then carry on the demolition drive to evict encroachments in the Jhi’nti-based Trahi Achyuta Ashram.
Adjudicating a petition filed by the Ashram Trust, Justice Kumari Sanju Panda directed the Balipatna Tehsildar to physically measure the Government land on Friday before carring on the demolition activities.
Claiming that the ashram had constructed structures encroaching upon a part of the Government land adjacent to its own 14 acre, the administration had launched eviction drive on Wednesday grounding concrete structures following an order from the District Magistrate.
Challenging the DM’s order, the trust had approached the court terming the eviction order as “perverse” on two grounds. The trust argued that the eviction drive was undertaken without prior fixing of the demarcated points.
Secondly, the trust, relying upon a Supreme Court directive, argued that if a part of any religious structure has come up on an adjacent unused Government land, the trust should be given an option to acquire the portion of land in lieu of a cost fixed by the Government or in exchange of an equal amount of the trust’s own land.