BHUBANESWAR: The Revenue and Disaster Management department has decided to fast-track disposal of cases on land and properties of Lord Jagannath pending in various districts of the state.
Additional chief secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee has urged the Board of Revenue, all revenue divisional commissioners (RDCs), district collectors and director of land records and survey for early disposal of the 11,675 miscellaneous revenue cases filed by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) at various tehsils in Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Ganjam, Cuttack and Kendrapara districts.
District collectors have also been asked to immediately implement the orders passed by the member, Board of Revenue in 257 cases filed by the SJTA under section 7(A) of the Odisha Estates Abolition Act.
Padhee said that in appropriate cases, the record of rights (RoR) of 1927–28 will be examined and steps taken for its correction. Further, while adjudicating cases relating to the endowment properties of Lord Jagannath, officers have been directed to examine the pre-settlement records of 1888–89, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1929–30 and 1977–78, along with other historical revenue records and prepare accurate records of the endowment properties in accordance with law.
The department has also decided that copies of the pre-settlement and settlement RoRs, along with the settlement-to-current record correlation reports, will be made available to the SJTA at the earliest to facilitate efficient conduct of cases before the Board of Revenue.
Revenue inspectors, amins and other experienced field-level functionaries will be deployed for identification, verification and protection of Jagannath land. Regular field inspections will be undertaken to ensure strict vigilance.