Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Friday issued notice to Central and state governments over forest land grabs. The court asked forest and revenue officials of the central and state governments to enquire into alleged forest land grab by certain influential persons in Jaipur district. Court had given the time of two weeks for the submission of report.
The notice had been sent in the wake of alleged land grab of about 100 acres of forest land by Gokarneswar Trust, which is headed by senior BJD MP Kalpataru Das’s wife Pratima Das.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Amitava Roy had took up the issue after the PIL of Iswar Das and three others of Dharmasala, court issued notices to Assistant Director General of Forests (ADGF) in the Union forest ministry and Additional Principal Conservator of Forests (APCF) of eastern zone.
The petitioners have alleged that about 100 acres of forest land in Jajpur district has been grabbed by influential local political leaders and have set up an educational institution and constructed concrete houses on it.
Notices were also issued to Odisha forest secretary and revenue secretary apart from these two central government officers.
All these four officers and the MP’s wife as chairman of the Trust have been arraigned as respondents in the writ petition, informed the petitioner advocate Srinath Mishra.
The petition also alleged, “Although, the Union forest department, following a petition made by Iswar Das in November 2013 had asked the state government to enquire about the alleged land grab, state government officials sat over the central government’s order and did not take any action.”
Bureau Report
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