Puri: Orissa land consolidation commissioner CTM Suguna, while delivering verdict on a revision case recently, has directed Sakhigopal tehsildar to record around 29 decimal land alongside the National Highway-316 at Kanjia mouza in the name of the state government.
Sources said the 29 decimal land has been under the possession of the state government since decades, but the ownership of the property, valued around Rs 5 crore, still lies in the name of a private individual.
The state government had acquired the land for construction of a hospital and quarters for the health staff from a coconut trader, Muhammad Mazid, way back in 1953. However, revenue department officials did not transfer the ownership of the land.
The ownership of the land remained with Mazid during the land settlements in 1977 and 1987. Taking advantage of the situation, Mazid and his relatives had given power of attorney to another person.
The power of attorney holder and a few of his associates had tried to take control over the hospital in-charge officer’s quarters July 3, 1997. Satyabadi police had arrested a few persons in this regard as per a complaint filed by the then hospital in-charge Prasanta Sahu.
Sahu had also filed a revision case at the court of land consolidation director urging him to end the private ownership of the land at the earliest. The land consolidation director had asked the Puri district consolidation officer to look into the issue.
Subsequently, the land consolidation officer had directed the Revenue department officials to record the land in the name of state government. Challenging the verdict, Mazid and the power of attorney holder had filed an appeal case in the court of Puri district deputy director of land consolidation.
The duo had filed a case in the court of state land consolidation commissioner in 2016 after the deputy director upheld the verdict of the Puri district land consolidation officer.
PNN