The Odisha High Court on Friday resolved a group of 63 petitions. These petitions were filed after the registering authority refused to register deeds of sale for the petitioners’ homestead lands in the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation area, citing non-compliance with section 22 of the Odisha Land Reforms (OLR) Act, 1960.
Section 22 of the OLR Act requires permission from a revenue officer for the transfer of land. The petitions contested the registering authority’s decisions, arguing that homestead lands in urban areas are exempt from the provisions of section 22 of the Act.
Justice B P Routray, presiding as a single judge, determined that the mere inclusion of the land in an urban area or within the SMC area does not exclude the applicability of the OLR Act, particularly section 22. The court directed the competent revenue authority to conduct a fact-finding inquiry in each case regarding the land’s usability for purposes other than agriculture.
Justice Routray observed, “The lands in question, apart from being recorded as homestead in the record of rights (RoRs), did not demonstrate that they are solely for residential purposes and not capable of being used as agricultural lands. None of the cases revealed any inquiry report by the revenue authority to confirm that the lands are no longer capable of being used for agricultural purposes.”