Reacting to the Board of Revenue’s notice on him, senior IAS officer Taradatt has claimed that the controversial plot of land he had purchased 22 years back bears no illegality and he challenged the authorities to prove otherwise.
In a four-page statement on Monday, Taratatt, currently Director General of the Gopabandha Academy of Administration, said he had purchased the 0.10 acre plot when he was Joint Secretary of the then Tribal Welfare Department.
“I had bought 0.10 acre of land from one Uchhab Sahu at a cost of Rs67,055. I had examined the record of right (RoR) and the title of the land. I had not taken any help either of Revenue or the General Administration (GA) Department for the purchase of the land. I got the patta in 1993 after a due procedure,” said Taradatt.
Tatadatt’s public statement came barely a week after the Board of Revenue served a notice on him and 52 others for illegally occupying 4.5 acres of land in Chandrasekharpur mouja of the city.
Stating that he was given the record of right on August 28, 1993, after the mutation was allowed by the then Tehsildar, Bhubaneswar, Taradatt clarified that the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) gave approval for constructing a house on the land in 2000.
“As I could not construct it within the stipulated three years, I obtained a second approval in 2007 and then constructed a double-storey house spending Rs28 lakh,” he said.
Meanwhile, Revenue Department sources said Sahu had managed to record the title of the valuable land in his name through manipulation in 1962 with the connivance of the then Tehsildar and other officials. later, Sahu sold the land in parts to 53 people at different points of time.
The GA Department had filed a writ petition with the Board of Revenue to restore the land to Government fold. On this petition, the Board of Revenue served notice on Taradatt and 52 others who include another senior IAS officer SN Tripathy, according to sources.