BHUBANESWAR: The Board of Revenue has rejected an application seeking to record over 4.24 acre of government land near Bhubaneswar, worth about Rs 100 crore, in the name of a purchaser. It has also directed the concerned Revenue department officials to conduct a detailed inquiry into the lease and subsequent sale of the land.
The land is located in Ogalapada village under Jatni tehsil of Khurda district, along the Bhubaneswar-Khurda National Highway. It was leased to an Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer in 1968 under the Odisha Government Land Settlement Act, 1962 (OGLS Act), for agricultural purposes.
The officer was then serving as a settlement officer. The land was subsequently sold to another person shortly before his retirement.
Hearing a case in this regard, Member, Board of Revenue, Satyabrata Sahu, rejected the application for recording the disputed land in the purchaser’s name.
Under the OGLS Act, the settlement of government land is governed by prescribed eligibility criteria and procedures. The rules provide priority to specified categories of applicants for agricultural land, including eligible landless agricultural labourers.
“A government servant, by virtue of holding salaried public office, does not qualify as a landless poor person under the OGLS Act and prima facie, obtaining such a lease constitutes a fraud on the statute and misrepresentation of eligibility,” Sahu observed in his order.
He directed the authorities to collect and examine all relevant documents, including the original lease file, revenue records and field inspection reports, to establish the basis for the original lease and the circumstances surrounding the subsequent sale, besides investigating other alleged irregularities.
Interestingly, the original lease file was also found to be unavailable at the Jatni tehsil office, according to the report submitted by the tehsildar to the Board. Discrepancies were also identified in old land records, maps and field inspection reports regarding the extent of the property.
The tehsildar’s report further highlighted the larger problem of encroachment in Ogalapada, where more than 20 acre of government land are reportedly under unauthorised occupation despite being recorded in the government’s name.
Taking note of the discrepancies, the Board of Revenue rejected the application. It also directed that existing government land records should not be altered on the basis of disputed documents or mutation proceedings.
The circumstances under which the OAS officer obtained the lease, and whether the allotment complied with the applicable provisions, will also be examined. The inquiry will look into the legal basis of the transaction and the role of officials involved in the original allotment and subsequent transfer.
The Revenue department has been directed to examine the entire documentation process from the beginning, including sale records, and investigate whether the transactions caused any loss to the government.
