Post News Network
Cuttack, Sept 10: The Orissa High Court has sought a reply from the state government in connection with a case seeking scrapping of two notifications that recognised Balukhand forest near Konark in Puri district as a sanctuary.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and justice BR Sarangi directed the government to submit its reply within two months.
The government in early 1980s proposed to declare forests near Bhimpur, Bhatilbhuyian and Chhaitana village in Puri as Balukhand sanctuary to preserve the rich flora and fauna in the area.
A notification was published April 23, 1984 as per Section 18 of the Wildlife Protection Act. The government had also issued a preliminary notification September 1, 1987 to bring land of 44 nearby villages under the sanctuary.
However, the government did not provide compensation to the affected villagers and issued a final notification on annexation of the village land to the proposed sanctuary.
Challenging the notifications issued by the government, some locals including Swami Hariharananda moved the HC. The court in its August 27, 1992 order had directed the then Puri collector to probe the issue.
The collector had told the court that the landed properties of Hariharananda and other petitioners had been excluded from the proposed sanctuary.
However, a few villagers led by Harapriya Rath filed a fresh case in the HC and urged it to scrap the two notifications issued by the government with regards to the Balukhand sanctuary.
