As per the direction of the Supreme Court, a three-member committee headed by the Cuttack district Collector, on Saturday took over the management of the properties that stand on the controversial land adjacent to the Barababti Stadium here.
The Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) had illegally constructed a sprawling marriage mandap called the Barabati Palace and 23 shops encroaching upon the Government land and collected rents from the tenants for over a decade.
The State Government had leased acres of land to the OOA in 1949 for the purpose of the stadium, but the sssociation in 1984 encroached upon an additional two acres of prime land adjacent to the stadium and constructed a market complex over it.
OOA secretary Asirbad Behera and his family enjoyed the property after a lower court here allowed the OOA to claim right, title and interest over the impugned land.
This was, however, nullified by the Odisha High Court last year, following which the OOA challenged the HC order in the apex court. In an interim order, the SC on Thursday had dismissed the stand taken by the OOA, observing that a lessee cannot set forth a plea of adverse possession and directed the committee to take possession of the property by Sunday.
“We took over the management of the marriage mandap and the 23 shops over this land and would make a public notification soon so that the interested parties wishing to utilise these facilities shall approach the committee henceforth,” said Cuttack ADM laxmidhar Mohanty. He added that the committee would soon open a bank account for this purpose and the tenants would make the payments through bank drafts.