CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has annulled several land transactions pertaining to 4.40 acres of shared ancestral property in Baniapat Khuntapada and Keonjhar. The court noted that these transactions were marred by the intentional exclusion of heirs and procedural irregularities.
As a result, the court has instructed the Keonjhar district collector to investigate the irregularities and take disciplinary measures against responsible officials. Additionally, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been ordered to halt any compensation payments for the land designated for a highway project and to recover any funds already disbursed.
In a ruling dated July 18, Justice S K Panigrahi declared the sale deeds and subsequent transfers as “vitiated” and legally invalid. He observed that these transactions appeared to be “carefully engineered” schemes aimed at denying lawful coparceners (equal shareholders) their rights.
Portions of the land, jointly inherited by three brothers and three sisters, were sold between 2011 and 2014 by two of the brothers without their sisters’ consent.
Matters escalated when the land was earmarked for acquisition in 2015 for a national highway project. The initial compensation was set at ₹6.96 crore but was raised to ₹21.08 crore following an appeal. The three sisters subsequently approached the court.
The court highlighted that the land transfer involved Balaram Patra, a daily laborer and BPL cardholder, and Dillip Kumar Pati, a buyer from the general caste. “It is challenging to understand how someone of limited financial means could facilitate transactions worth crores in a matter of months,” Justice Panigrahi remarked.
Justice Panigrahi was critical of the revenue authorities for granting sale permissions and processing mutations without adequate scrutiny. “The actions of revenue officials suggest not just negligence, but raise concerns of institutional complicity,” the court stated.
