Prasanta Kumar Choudhury v. State of Odisha
Government land settlement – pending Form-1 application under Rule 5(2), OGLS Rules, 1963
Case brief
What is this about?
W.P.(C) No.6836 of 2025, High Court of Orissa at Cuttack, order dated 18.03.2025 (S.K. Sahoo and Savitri Ratho, JJ.). Five Choudhury petitioners, represented by Lambodar Pradhan, sought a direction to the Tahasildar, Mahakalapara (opp. party no.3) to act on their Form-1 application (Annexure-2, dated 09.01.2024) under Rule 5(2) of the OGLS Rules, 1963 for settlement of Government land; a further representation of 28.06.2024 (Annexure-3) produced no result. The Court, without expressing any opinion on merits and noting the Addl. Govt. Advocate had no objection, directed a decision within four months and communication of the result within two weeks. Keywords: government land settlement, OGLS Rules 1963, Form-1 application, administrative delay, Kendrapara, mandamus.
What did the court decide?
Direction to opp. party no.3 (Tahasildar, Mahakalapara) to take a decision on the petitioners' settlement application (Annexure-2) expeditiously, preferably within four months, in accordance with law, and to communicate the result to the petitioners within two weeks of taking the decision; petitioners to produce the certified copy of the order before opp. party no.3.