Cuttack: Orissa high court has dismissed a PIL opposing a proposed 200-ft-wide road project in Bhubaneswar, holding that illegal occupation of govt land cannot be used to stall planned development.Accordingly, a division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman directed authorities to proceed with eviction and carry forward the road widening and expansion work as per the approved development plan.The bench recently rejected the plea filed by 18 petitioners, who had alleged that the proposed road alignment in Andharua gram panchayat threatened tribal homes and religious sites and violated provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.The court noted that the project — connecting the Institute of Mathematics to Ekamra Kanan via Infocity — was part of a duly approved plan prepared by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority under the Odisha Development Authorities Act, 1982. A modified comprehensive development plan had been notified in the Odisha Gazette on May 14, 2018, after a consultative process.Coming down heavily on the petitioners, the bench observed that they had suppressed material facts, including earlier litigation. It said a civil court had already ordered eviction of some of the occupants in 2018 in a suit filed in 2011, but they continued to remain on the land and press claims.“Long duration of illegal occupation confers no legal right,” the court said in the March 18 order, adding that mere possession or construction does not create title over govt land.The bench also took note of reports under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which indicated that the petitioners were obstructing authorities from reclaiming the land and causing disturbances. It said the petitioners had failed to rebut these findings.Observing that the litigants had not approached the court with “clean hands,” the bench termed their attempt as one aimed at protecting “rank encroachers.”“As it is found that the petitioners are seeking to protect the rank encroachers, the illegal possession cannot be permitted to be continued, that too, under the order of the court, as it is the bounden duty of the court to ensure that such wrongdoers are discouraged at every stage and not permitted to prolong the litigation,,” the bench said.Reiterating that court’s cannot legitimise illegal possession, the HC aligned with established Supreme Court principles and state policy to curb encroachments.
