Orissa HC stops salary of Angul DM over compensation payment
CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has issued direction not to release the salary of Angul collector, land acquisition officer, chief executive officer of zilla parishad till compensation is paid to people, whose lands were acquired for the Kukurpeta minor irrigation project (KMIP), 61 years ago.
Over 62 acres were submerged in Tetuloigogopinathpur, Kunjabiharipur, Kukurpeta, Nuamouza and Kukurpeta villages under Chendipada tehsil in 1961. In the process, 188 persons, residing in the five villages lost their lands.
The court issued the direction recently on a petition filed by Pramod Kumar Pradhan and others. The petitioners had sought the court’s intervention for being paid compensation, or provided lands elsewhere.
The division bench of Justice BR Sarangi and Justice BP Satpathy said,
“In any case, since the compensation amount has not been paid to the petitioners till date, even though the writ petition was filed in the year 2013 and in the meantime more than 10 years have passed, and that the lands were acquired in the year 1961 and in the meantime more than 60 years have passed, this court directs that till payment of compensation to the petitioners is made for the land acquired by the state government, the salary of collector, land acquisition officer, and chief development officer-cum-executive officer, zilla parishad of Angul shall not be released in their favour.”
“However, only on payment of compensation, if any application is filed that the petitioners have been paid their compensation, then release of salary of the concerned officers shall be considered by this court”, the bench said in its January 16 order.