IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P.(C) No.32835 of 2025 (PIL) Aratatrana Bhuyan …. Petitioner Mr. Sanjay Kumar Panigrahi, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Soubhagya Swain, Advocate -versus- State of Odisha and others …. Opposite Parties Mr. Debashis Tripathy, AGA CORAM: THE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN Order No. ORDER 27.01.2026 02. 1. The petitioner, claiming to be villager of Nuapada under Cuttack Sadar Tahasil in the district of Cuttack, filed the present writ petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation beseeching indulgence of this Court to issue writ of mandamus to the opposite parties to take steps to evict the encroachers of Government land pertaining to Plot No.525, Khata No.668 having area Ac.0.09 decimal, Kissam: Gochar under Nuapada Mouza, Cuttack Sadar Tahail, District: Cuttack and Plot No.527, Khata No.660 having area Ac.0.15 decimal, Kissam: Patia under Nuapada Mouza, Cuttack Sadar Tahail, District: Cuttack and Plot No.2029, Khata No.667 having area Ac.01.30 decimal, Kissam: Gramya Rasta under Nuapada Mouza, Cuttack Sadar Tahail, District: Cuttack and Plot No.1986, Khata No.667 having area Ac.0.10 decimal, Kissam: Gramya Rasta under Nuapada Mouza, Cuttack Sadar Tahail, District: Cuttack. 2. Learned counsel submitted that the petitioner along with other villagers made a representation dated 12th July, 2011 to the Secretary, Revenue Department and Collector, Cuttack to take action against the encroachers of the Government land and also requested the Tahasildar, Cuttack and the Cuttack Development Authority, which has not been attended to. Therefore, the petitioner has approached this Court by way of filing writ petition bearing W.P.(C) No.29245 of 2011, which was disposed of vide order dated 9th December, 2011 with direction to file fresh representation before the Collector, Cuttack and if such representation is filed, the Collector, Cuttack shall consider the same and disposed of the same within a period of six months from the date of receipt of that representation. 2.1. Pursuant to the same, the petitioner along with villagers filed fresh representation, which has not yet been considered. Challenging the same, the petitioner has filed contempt petition, which has also been dropped due to non-prosecution. 2.2. Thereafter, the petitioner has filed again representation dated 21st August, 2025 vide Annexure-5 before the Collector-cum- District Magistrate, Cuttack for eviction of the encroachers from the Government land, which is still pending for consideration. 3. On an earlier occasion, when the matter was listed, learned Additional Government Advocate sought for adjournment to obtain instruction. Today, when the matter was taken up, on instruction, learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for the State submitted that in respect of above Government land over which the encroachment is alleged, cases for eviction on such encroachment have been initiated and, the matter is posted on 7th February, 2026 for further proceeding. 4. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and after going through the instructions as supplied to the learned Additional Government Advocate by the Tahasildar, Sadar, Cuttack, this Court does not feel it apposite to keep the matter pending as the Government has specified the timeline by activating the process of law to remove encroachments and evict encroachers of the Government lands by following procedure laid down in the relevant statute. This Court hopes that the authorities concerned shall proceed to evict the encroachers and demolish the unauthorized constructions in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible. 5. With the aforesaid observation, the writ petition stands disposed of. (Harish Tandon) Chief Justice (M.S. Raman) Judge MRS/Laxmikant Designation: Senior Stenographer