**Puri:** The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) at last won its legal battle and got back 11.143 acres of grabbed Swargadwara land as settled status on record.
The Puri Tehsildar Court on Monday in its verdict accorded settled status to the erstwhile ‘Bebandobast’ (unsettled) status land of 11.143 acres duly recording it in favour of Jagannath Mahaprabhu Vije Puri, marfat: Temple Managing Committee, Puri.
Briefing media, Puri Tehsildar Prabir Kumar Khilar informed, “Today we issued the order on the case filed by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) under OA Act 34/1990. It had been appealed by the SJTA that 30.110 acres of land to be settled as the OA Act. The appeal had come as remand to the ADM court. ADM court had conducted hearing on it and in 2015 had ordered it for reopening and fresh hearing in the Tehsildar court here.”
“The hearing of the case was on April 26. And the order has been out today. The order has been divided into two parts. ‘Bebandobast’ (unsettled) status land of 11.143 acres in name of Jagannath Mahaprabhu, marfat: Shankaracharya Mutt, as per the Supreme Court order 2015, has been settled on record as Jagannath Mahaprabhu Vije Puri, marfat: Temple Managing Committee, Puri,” the Tehsildar informed.
On the other hand, the Shankaracharya Mutt has been aggrieved by such an order. Its lawyer has now preferred to knock the doors of the ADM Court here now.
Notably addressing a press meet last month over the Swargadwara land grabbing allegations, Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati had mentioned that more than 100 acres of land, stretching from outside the Lord Jagannath Temple premises to the sea beach and various gardens in Puri, belonged to the mutt during the rule of Mughals and Britishers.
He had even slammed the Odisha Government alleging carelessness and aimlessness of the administration as well as the lackadaisical attitude of the Chief Ministers of Odisha responsible for such plight of the mutt.
The Shankaracharya at the press meet had also claimed that the cremation ground was included in the land of Puri Peeth while his predecessor had given the land for the cremation ground considering that whoever is cremated at Swargadwar attains salvation. However, unruly elements captured the land of the mutt blatantly and looted it many times. The in-charge of the mutt was also attacked before his arrival and even the documents of the mutt were stolen, he had further alleged.