HC stays move to evict Cuttack Malgodown

In a major relief to the thousands of traders at the Malgodown here, the Odisha High Court on Thursday stayed the operation of recent eviction notices issued by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) to the traders asking them to vacate the railway land by March 31. Taking up a batch of petitions filed by several traders, Justice Biswnath Rath issued notices to the Railways, the Odisha Government and the Cuttack Collector asking the respondents to file their counters to the petitions within two weeks.

The Malgodown, the biggest wholesale trading centre of the State, came up over an area of 25 acres of land almost eight decades ago. Nearly 80 per cent of its land belongs to the Railways which were given to the traders on lease that expired in 1985. Since then, the traders are on illegal occupation of the land, and despite several notices from the Railways; they were not vacating the property. However, the Railways this time are determined to evict the traders from its land.

When the executive and legislature failed to provide any relief to the traders over the issue, they have approached the judiciary seeking its intervention.