The Cuttack district administration on Monday took possession of the controversial patch of land near Barabati Stadium here that was under adverse possession of Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) for over two decades.
“We are planning to remove the illegal constructions that had come up on this controversial land within seven days. A sprawling marriage mandap ‘Barabati Palace’ and 23 shops were constructed illegally on this land by the OOA”, said a district official.
It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court of India, upholding an order of the Orissa High Court, had set up a committee headed by the Cuttack district collector and had asked it to take over the management of the marriage mandap and the shops in January this year. The State government had leased about 20 acres of government land to OOA in 1949 for construction of Barabati Stadium. Subsequently, the sporting body took adverse possession of the adjacent government land. But when Asirbad Behera became the secretary of OOA in 1985, he subleased the encroached land to an estate developer headed by his son to run the businesses on it.
