The Odisha government on Sunday warned that it would initiate criminal action against people involved in the illegal sale of land belonging to the Lord Jagannath Temple of Puri.

The government wants to create a corpus fund of ₹10,000 crore by selling the land belonging to the temple.

Odisha law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan told reporters, “Criminal proceedings will be initiated against buyers, sellers and sub-registrars if it is detected that the temple’s land is sold illegally.” His reaction came after the temple administration filed a report at the Baselisahi police station regarding the fraudulent transaction of 109 temple plots in Matitota panchayat in Puri. The land was sold by the land mafia in connivance with the local officials. The land was sold illegally and registered through a notary. Over the years, the land mafia first encroached on the land and after keeping it for a few years, is now selling it to the buyers.

At the same time, the Odisha government plans to settle the temple’s land and sell the encroached land to people through legitimate means. “By selling the encroached land, we can raise a corpus fund to the tune of ₹8000 to ₹10,000 crore for the temple. It will help in doing a lot of work for the temple,” the law minister said.

The government thinks it is difficult to get back the encroached land from the people under whose custody the temple land has remained for years. As per the plan, the encroachers will be asked to pay the required penalty and dues to the Puri Jagannath Temple and in lieu of that the land will be recorded in their names.

“It will be done in line with the 2003 uniform policy and settlements will be made for the encroached temple lands. We aim to create a corpus fund ranging between ₹8,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore,” said
the minister.

“We have so far detected 60,426.943 acres of land belonging to the temple. Of this, 395.252 acres is located outside Odisha in Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Steps are being taken to recover the land and regularise the land records,” said a
senior official.

According to temple officials, many devotees had donated land in the name of the Lord as a last wish. But over the years, people have encroached on such lands in many areas. While the land in the name of Lord Jagannath is spread over the 24 districts of Odisha, 395.252 acres of this land have been found in six other states.

According to the temple’s official records, 17.02 acres of this land is located in Andhra Pradesh, 322.93 acres in Bengal and 28.218 acres in Maharashtra. Similarly, 25.11 acres of land are
located in Madhya Pradesh in the name of the Lord, 0.274 acres in Bihar and 1.70 acres in Chhattisgarh.

In the first phase, the Odisha government plans to sell over 35,000 acres of land. The process of selling the land will be based on the recommendation of a committee formed under the chairmanship of former Governor B.D. Sharma. “The step to sell 35,272.235 acres of the temple land has been taken with the approval of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA),” officials said.

Meanwhile, the state government and the temple administration are in touch with the respective district collectors to get these plots
of land back.

Sources said people who have been in possession of Lord Jagannath’s land for more than 30 years, 20 years and 12 years will be able to record the land in their names by paying a certain amount of money, respectively.