As per the direction of the Supreme Court of India, 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 Barabati stadium here.
The Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) had illegally constructed a sprawling marriage mandap, called Barabati Palace, and 23 shops encroaching upon this government land and started collecting rent from the tenants for over a decade now. The State Government had leased only 20 acres of land to the OOA in 1949 for the purpose of the stadium but the Association in 1984 encroached upon an additional two acres of prime land adjacent to the stadium and constructed a market complex over it.
The OOA secretary, Asirbad Behera, and his family enjoyed the property as their fiefdom after a lower court here allowed the OOA to claim right, title and interest over the impugned land. This was however nullified by the Orissa High Court last year following which the OOA had challenged the HC order in the Supreme Court through a special leave petition.
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 had directed the Committee to take possession of the property by Sunday. “The interested parties wishing to utilise these facilities shall approach the Committee henceforth,” said Cuttack ADM Laxmidhar Mohanty.
