CUTTACK: Orissa high court has struck down multiple land transactions involving portions of 4.40 acres of undivided ancestral property in Baniapat Khuntapada and Keonjhar, citing deliberate exclusion of heirs, as well as procedural manipulation.
Accordingly, the court directed Keonjhar district collector to conduct an inquiry into the irregularities and initiate disciplinary action against erring officers. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has also been directed not to release any compensation for the land that was acquired for a highway project and recover any disbursed funds.
In the order on July 18, Justice S K Panigrahi declared the sale deeds and all subsequent transfers “vitiated” and legally invalid, observing that the transactions appeared to be a “carefully engineered arrangement” to deprive lawful coparceners (equal shareholders) of their rights.
Portions of the land — jointly inherited by three brothers and three sisters — were sold between 2011 and 2014 by two of the brothers without the consent of their sisters.
Things became complicated after the land was notified for acquisition in 2015 for a national highway project. An initial compensation of Rs 6.96 crore was awarded, but on appeal, it was enhanced to Rs 21.08 crore. The three sisters then approached the court.
The court took note of the fact that the land was routed through Balaram Patra, a daily wage labourer and BPL cardholder, to Dillip Kumar Pati, a buyer from the general caste. “It is difficult to reconcile how a person of limited means could execute crores-worth transactions in months,” Justice Panigrahi observed.
Justice Panigrahi also came down heavily on the revenue authorities for granting sale permissions and processing mutations without proper scrutiny. “The role of revenue officials reflects not just negligence, but raises a reasonable apprehension of institutional complicity,” the court said.
