New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) Thursday gave liberty to the priest of Punjabi monastery to withdraw the contempt petition against the Puri Collector for not complying with the order of apex court regarding land acquisition and rehabilitation and asked him to file a fresh interlocutory application (IA).
A three-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee and V Ramasubramanian opined that why not the petitioner file a fresh interlocutory application with all the documents for directions in the matter.
Petitioner’s counsel advocate Suvidutt MS said that they have withdrawn the contempt petition and will file a fresh IA within a week.
Earlier, the petitioner had prayed the court through the contempt petition urging it to initiate contempt proceedings against the Puri DM for wilful disobedience of the order of the apex court August 27, 2019.
The petitioner submitted to the court that the Advocate General appearing for Odisha had stated that no action would be taken against any private individuals without resorting to the procedure in accordance with law under the provisions of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
“However, the state government has, quite wilfully, chosen not to follow the procedure in accordance with the law as prescribed in the 2013 Act. Instead, it chose to bypass the said provisions by acquiring the seat of the monasteries and its campus which are inalienable and that too by way of direct purchase of private land through bilateral negotiations and other violations as per the 2013 Act,” the petition said.
It also stated that the properties are being acquired at a massively undervalued price which is half of its market price.
Notably, the district administration has sealed the Punjabi mutt which is slated to be demolished.
