Kataka: The Orissa High Court has directed the widow of an Army ex-serviceman, who fought in the 1962 Sino-Indian War, to approach the Baranga Tahsildar with a fresh representation seeking settlement of land allotted to her late husband more than four decades ago. A Division Bench of Justice Sanjeeb Panigrahi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman passed the order Wednesday while disposing of a writ petition filed by Khursida Begum.
The petitioner said her late husband, Aboo Syed Haroon Khurshid, had served in the Army during the 1962 Sino-Indian War and in the hostile terrains of Jammu and Srinagar. As a landless person, he had approached the Collector, Kataka, in 1976 seeking allotment of land. The Tahasildar, Kataka Sadar, subsequently ordered a settlement of 0.08 acre at Bidyadharpur in his favour August 23, 1980, following an inspection by the Revenue Inspector. The land was later recorded in the petitioner’s name in the Record of Rights in 1989.
However, the Additional District Magistrate, Kataka, subsequently set aside the settlement order and cancelled the Record of Rights, observing that the original application related to land at Tulasipur, while the land had been allotted at Baranga. After her husband’s death in 2016, Begum approached the Collector in August 2023 seeking settlement of the land. The matter was forwarded to the Tahasildar, who informed her that the allotted plot fell under Baranga Tehsil rather than Kataka Sadar.