CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has withdrawn the stay order it had issued on the implementation of rules formulated by the state government for Odisha Sahitya Akademi (OSA) awards on July 29, 2022. The court withdrew the interim stay after the president and secretary of OSA claimed they have absolutely no objection to the rule, which was finalised after due deliberation and on the consent of the Akademi as a body.
A writ petition challenged the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Puraskar Niyamabali (Rules for the award of Odisha Sahitya Akademi Puraskar) after the department of Odia Language, Literature and Culture communicated it to OSA on May 2, 2022. The petition was filed by a member, of the executive board of OSA chairman of the sub-committee to frame rules for the awards, Dr Nrusingha Charan Sarangi.
Countering the petition, the OSA president and the secretary had claimed the Akademi not only has consented to the rule involved but even has no objection to the conditions in it. The Akademi does not support the claim of only one of the members involved herein in the introduction of the rule.
The single judge bench of Justice Biswanath Rath felt the contentions of the counter averments clearly disclosed that the rule has been approved after due deliberation and in participation of all concerned and the OSA, as a body does not oppose the new rule.
“In the circumstance and for the support of Odisha Sahitya Akademi to the rule framed, though the writ petition involves a challenge to the rule but only at the instance of one of the members of the Akademi, this court finds, the interim order is not desired to continue any further”, Justice Rath observed in his order.
While modifying the July 29, 2022 order, Justice Rath said, “Conferment of the state-level award, if any, shall remain subject to the result of the writ petition.”