CUTTACK 24-Jan-2015 61
For the second time in the last two months, the Cuttack district administration today took charge of Barabati Palace (Kalyan Mandap) and 23 shops built on government land adjacent to Barabati Stadium allegedly encroached by the Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) following Supreme Court orders issued two days ago, informed Laxmidhar Mohanty, ADM Cuttack.
From now on, payments towards booking for Barabati Palace will be received by ADM Palit only through cheques or bank drafts, he said. Cuttack ADMs Laxmidhar Mohanty, Ajit Kumar Palit and tehsildar Cuttack (Sadar) arrived at Barabati Stadium this afternoon and took charge of the property after
completing paper formalities.
The apex court had ordered constitution of a committee comprising Cuttack collector and two ADMs of Cuttack district to take charge of the Kalyan Mandap (Barabati Palace) and 23 shops that had come up on the encroached land. The committee will function under the Revenue secretary of the state government, the court had directed. The court has also ordered an audit of the OOA by the Accountant General (AG), Odisha.
The OAA had got some relief on December 11 last year with a Supreme Court bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice UU Lalit granting a stay on the Crime Branch probe that Odisha High Court had ordered into the dispute following an appeal in the apex court by the OOA.
While issuing notice returnable within six weeks to the state government, the apex court, in its interim order, had then said: ``There shall be stay of operation of the impugned order till the next date of hearing.’’
The single judge bench of Justice BP Ray of the high court had delivered the judgment on November 29 while dealing with the dispute involving the encroached area (0.705 acres) adjacent to a larger area (20.808 acres), which was granted on lease to the OOA by the state government in 1949 for construction of the Barabati Stadium.
The Crime Branch had started its probe into the affairs of the OOA following the high court order. The district administration had also taken possession of the Kalyan Mandap (Barabati Palace) and 23 shops that had come up on the encroached land.
According to the annual report of the OOA placed at the association’s annual general meeting on September 19, 1999, the Kalyan Mandap was planned and construction taken up in September 1991.
Construction of the Kalyan Mandap complex named as Barabati Palace was completed in 1998. The then Chief Minister JB Patnaik had inaugurated it on January 28, 1999.
