The case of six poor tribal families rendered homeless in Salveta panchayat of Balangir district due to an unlawful demolition drive carried out by an overzealous lady sarpanch and her cohorts has come under judicial scrutiny.The Orissa High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the State Government on a PIL filed on the basis of the incident for revoking of April 19 order giving sarpanchs the powers of a Collector to decentralise the battle against Covid-19 pandemic.On August 11, Salveta sarpanch Hemakanti Munda had demolished six under-construction houses allotted under PMAY-Grameen to the tribal families in Agalpur block.
Based on a complaint filed by the affected families, Loisingha police had registered a case against 10 persons and arrested the sarpanch for gross abuse of power. Her husband Mohan Munda was also arrested.
Two residents of Balangir district filed the petition contending that ‘the incident occurred only for delegation of power to uneducated and illiterate persons without any administrative training prior to the April 19 notification under which the sarpanchs were given the power of a Collector’.
Advocate Ashis Mishra represented petitioners Ardhendhu Narayana Behera and Satrughan Naik in the Court when the PIL was taken up through video conferencing on Thursday.The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice KR Mohaparea fixed September 7 for hearing on the matter along with the Government response and directed the Balangir Collector to give protection to the unlawfully evicted tribal families. The petition has also sought the Court’s direction to the authorities concerned to build houses of the victims and pay compensation for the illegal action of the sarpanch.
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