The attempt of district unit of BJP to retain the house and building forcibly occupied by it failed with Sambalpur Sub-Collector Rainu Singh upholding the notice of Sambalpur Sadar Tehsildar Gyanaranjan Bhandeo for vacating the said land within 30 days. Although the order of the Sub-Collector was issued on March 8, it was communicated to the Tehsildar on Monday making the issue public.
The direction has come as a major set-back for BJP MLA of Sambalpur Jayanarayan Mishra. The district unit of the party had appealed to the Sub-Collector on the notice of the Tehsildar who had termed the occupation of the land and building as illegal.
He had also directed the party officials to vacate the place within 30 days failing which he stated that action under Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act would be initiated.
Earlier, the Orissa High Court had upheld the order of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) which had declared occupation of the land by BJP as illegal. It had directed the Tehsildar to take appropriate legal action for eviction of the land.
Acting on the direction of the High Court, Sambalpur Tehsildar had issued show cause notice to the BJP asking it to submit the reply by October 8, 2012. However, the BJP moved the lower court seeking relief which was rejected.
Reports said the land had been taken on lease from the State Government by the first Chairman of Sambalpur Municipality Jogendra Nath Sen before Independence. The lease was cancelled after Independence. While the present building of the DRDA was constructed over a part of the land, the rest of the land was renewed in the name of the legal heir of Sen, Piyali Chakravarty.