HC puts break on Trahi Ashram eviction drive

The Orissa High Court today directed the Khurda district administration to first demarcate the government land as claimed by the administration and then carry on the demolition drive to evict encroachments inside the Jhinti-based Trahi Achyuta Ashram.
Adjudicating over a petition filed by the Ashram Trust, Justice Kumari Sanju Panda directed the Balipatna Tehsildar to physically measure the government land on Friday and after fixing the demarcation points before carrying on the demolition activities.
Claiming that the Ashram had constructed structures encroaching upon a part of government land adjacent to its own 14 acres, the district administration had launched an eviction drive on Wednesday grounding concrete structures following an order from the district magistrate.

Challenging the district magistrate's order, the Trust had approached the High Court terming the eviction order to be "perverse", arguing that the eviction drive was carried out without prior fixing of the demarcated points.
The Trust, relying upon a Supreme Court directive, also argued that if a part of any religious structure has come up on an adjacent unused government land, then the Trust should be given an option to acquire that land in lieu of a cost fixed by the government or in exchange of an equal amount of the Trust's own land.