High Court grants more time to Odisha for status report on Sisupalgarh

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court had to yet again adjourn hearing on the PIL on conservation of Sisupalgarh as the State government could not produce its status report on the present condition of the protected monument on Monday.  

The State government’s failure, the second time in 50 days, forced the Court to adjourn hearing on the matter to May 17. Sisupalgarh, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, was excavated in 1947 by eminent archaeologist BB Lal and is considered to be the first instance of a planned settlement after Mohenjodaro-Harappa. According to latest reports, only 0.775 acre of the entire 562.681 acre of the fortified settlement’s protected land is under ASI’s control.

When the PIL came up on January 27, 2021 after languishing for several years, the Court found that the petition was filed way back in 2007 and it sought a specific direction to the authorities concerned to take appropriate steps to protect Sisupalgarh from unauthorised constructions and encroachments. The Court also felt that though several affidavits had been filed in the petition and there had been some interveners as well, the present status was not clearly emerging.

More so, the petitioner - Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (Intach) - had on December 13, 2019 filed an interim application for a direction to the officials concerned to take speedy steps within a stipulated time to complete construction of a the boundary wall for protecting the 0.775 acre area under ASI control.

According to the order issued on that day, the State government was asked to file an affidavit on or before March 8 after Advocate General AK Parija stated that he will file a response to the interim application and also prepare and file a report before the Court on the present status of the monument, the preservation of which has been sought by the petitioner. But the Court had to adjourn hearing till April 19 as the State government sought more time to file the affidavit on March 16.