Cuttack, Apr 10: Yesterday the Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) conducted a high level meet under the chairmanship of President Sameer Dey in presence of secretary M A Alam and other council members in reaction to the Supreme Court order for a CBI inquiry into the alleged land grab at Barabati stadium. The officials of the State Olympic body have consulted top legal experts ahead of the CBI investigation. Having a long discussion at the meeting, the association chalked out strategies to face the central probe agency. It was also decided that the review petition will not be filed in the SC that was supposed to be filed in the Supreme Court within a month. The top sports body claimed that no government lands have been encroached upon and major part of the Barabati Palace (marriage hall) is on the leased land.
The Supreme Court on Monday had ordered the CBI to probe into the alleged land grab at the major sports ground of OOA based on the Accountant General’s report recommending a CBI inquiry into the income-expenditure account of Barabati Palace (a marriage hall) and allotment of 23 shops that were built by OOA. As per the Accountant General’s report, OOA started construction of the 23 shops on disputed land in 1990-91 with its own resources and completed the construction in 1995-96 at a cost of Rs 14.21 lakh and let out the same in March 1996. It also permitted construction of ‘Kalyan Mandap’ (the hall) by Incon Associates on the disputed land in 1996-97. Asirbad Behera, a former secretary of Odisha Cricket Association has been accused of encroaching on premium government land for furthering his own interests. In November 2014, Orissa High Court had ordered the Cuttack district collector to take possession of properties on the encroached land.
