Land acquisition cases: State to set up special authorities soon

Bhubaneswar: With a view to fast track trails related to land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement cases, the state government has decided to set up special authorities to exclusively deal with such cases.
The revenue and disaster management (R&DM) department has recently issued a draft notification in this regard. The authority will be called as ‘The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority’, which will be set up in each revenue division – Southern Northern and Central, R&DM special secretary and R&D director AK Naik told Orissa POST, here Monday.
“The process to set up the authorities under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisitions, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 has been started and within a period of next two months proper gazette notification will be issued for formation of the authorities,” he said.
At present, civil courts are dealing with land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement cases. Once the authorities start functioning, all new cases related to land matters will be dealt by them, the director said.
However, the civil courts will continue to hear pending cases and also new cases, if any, he added.
The government has issued the draft notification and sought suggestions and objections on the formation of the authorities from public and also organisations. Those interested can submit their opinion by September 12, sources said.
According to the draft notification, the authorities will be headed by a district judge, sitting or retired (to be decided by the Orissa High Court), while an OAS cadre officer of joint secretary rank will be appointed as the registrar of that office.
Besides, the authority will have a head clerk, two junior clerks, one stenographer and four group-D employees. In case of any written complaint against the authority, the case will be investigated by a judge of Orissa HC, to be appointed by the Chief Justice.
Following the conclusion of the investigation, the judge will submit his report to the Chief Justice, who will forward it to the state government along with his recommendations. Acting on the report, the government will take appropriate decision. Currently, thousands of land dispute cases are pending with various courts in the state. This is not only delaying justice, but also hampering developmental activities, the source said.