Bikash Sahoo Vs State of Odisha

The instant case is one of the examples of settling the personal scores in the garb of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). A common trend runs into several Public Interest Litigations when several persons joined together in one writ petition claiming themselves to be the villagers and raising an issue that the authorities have decided a particular cause in a wrongful way.

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In the instant case, the land in question is allegedly claimed to be a G ram Jungle but wrongly recorded in the name of the opposite party no.8 in R.P. Case No.920 of 1998. There remains a complete silence since the proceeding which was initiated under Section 15(b) of the Odisha Survey and Settlement Act, 1958 for considerable decades till the execution of the agreement for sale with the opposite party no.9. Immediately the Right to Information Act, 2005 was resorted to seeking information which was duly provided, yet a further application was made seeking the entire records of the said R.P. case which is

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duly replied by the authorities that the same is not available in the department. Instead of taking recourse under the said provision of law, the instant writ petition giving colour of a Public Interest Litigation is taken out to achieve the goal indirectly which cannot be achieved directly. Whether the entry in the Record of Right by initiating a proceeding under the provision of the said Act is correctly made or not can further be gone into under Section 32 of the said Act or, in the event any conflicting right over the properties claimed, it invites a civil dispute which cannot be settled under the fiat of a Public Interest Litigation.

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There is no hesitation in our mind that the petitioners wanted to correct the entry in the Record of Rights taking recourse to a Public Interest Litigation when there is an express provision provided in the said Act. 4. The Public Interest Litigation cannot be permitted to be misused as a tool to settle the personal score but must have the element of the larger public interest. Merely some of the persons claiming themselves to be the villagers joining in one litigation does not ipso facto make such litigation as a Public Interest Litigation, inasmuch as other nuances laid down in a catena of the judgments are required to be pleaded for the interest of public at large or to espouse the cause of a financially stricken person who does not have the sufficient recourses to approach the Court. This appears to us mere a fancy litigation than raising and/or flagging the cause concerning the public at large. The same is dismissed with a cost of Rs.10,000/- (rupees ten thousand) to be deposited by the petitioners before the Member Secretary, Odisha State Legal Services Authority (Juvenile Justice Fund), Cuttack within

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a period of two weeks from date. In the event of such deposit, the Odisha State Legal Services Authority shall utilize the said amount for the Welfare of Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP). In default it is open for the Odisha State Legal Services Authority to recover the said amount as permissible in law.

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(Harish Tandon) Chief Justice

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(M.S. Raman) Judge

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Aswini

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Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: ASWINI KUMAR SETHY Designation: Personal Assistant (Secretary-in-charge) Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 17-Apr-2026 11:46:06

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Bikash Sahoo v. State of Odisha

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Bikash Sahoo v. State of Odisha

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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Procedural history

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