Odisha HC seeks ATR on task force report on DQ

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Jan 31:

The Odisha High Court has sought an action taken report (ATR) from the state government on the recommendations made in the report by the task force on discretionary quota (DQ).

A division bench of the High Court comprising of justices Dr A K Rath and Dr Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi issued the directions to the state government while conducting a hearing on a letter petition filed by one Ramesh Chandra Sahu of Cuttack.

It may be mentioned here that Sahu through a letter petition has alleged that the discretionary quota was misused for allotting land to influential persons and demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

The court conducted hearing on the letter petition admitting it as a PIL

The petitioner has alleged that between 1995 and 2014 about 1,500 government plots have been illegally allotted to influential persons.

Following ruckus in the State Assembly over the issue, the state government had constituted a task force and had ordered for an investigation into the issue.

The task force report revealed involvement of several government agencies like GA, CDA, BDA, PKDA and RDA apart from involvement of ministers and several influential politicians.

However, the state government has not taken any action so far, the petitioner had alleged.