Odisha bid to retrieve land misused by ex-armymen

In a bid to retrieve land allotted to ex-jawans of the army after the 1962 war and were being allegedly misused, Odisha government has asked district collectors to submit a list of such land, official sources said.
Tehsildars have been asked to submit the list of leased land to Development and Town Planning authorities so that approvals for building plans on those plots are not given.
The state government's action came after it came to know that the land given to ex-jawans for agriculture purpose have been used in other purposes.
In letters to the district collectors and revenue divisional commissioners (RDCs), revenue and disaster management secretary Taradatt said it had come to the notice of the government that agricultural land leased out to landless jawans who had served in forward areas from October 26, 1962 to January 31, 1964 under Government Grants Act, 1895 in various parts of Odisha is being used as homestead or for other purposes in violation of Section 3 of the Act.

By allowing such conversions, the tehsildars have violated the provisions of Government Grants Act, 1895 giving illegal gain to the applicants to sell out such agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose and thereby causing huge financial loss to the state exchequer, Taradutta said.
Apart from village-wise list of land allotted to jawans, the department has asked for a list of tehsildars and additional tehsildars who permitted the conversion of land leases so that appropriate action can be taken against them.