A Public Interest litigation (PIl) petition was filed in the Odisha High Court on Thursday seeking the court’s intervention in removing illegal occupants from Government quarters and collection of penalty rent which is calculated to be over Rs 50 crore.
Civil rights activist Pradip Pradhan filed the PIl alleging that more than 400 Government quarters across the State are now being illegally occupied by both present and retired Government employees, including administrative, police and forest officers of both State and all-India cadres. Annexing documents obtained through RTI, Pradhan also alleged that political honchos, including former Members of Parliament and State Assembly, have also illegally occupied many Government quarters in Bhubaneswar.
He claimed that the illegal occupants are not even paying the penalty rents, which is estimated to be over Rs 50 crore and the State Government is highly noncommittal in this matter even as several petitions and representations were made to the concerned Government officials, including estate managers who are supposed to take legal actions against the erring persons under the Odisha Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act.
The PIl has, however, not been taken into cognizance by the High Court yet, informed the petitioner’s lawyer Khirod Chandra Rout.