Bhubaneswar, April 11: Around 40,000 acres of the state government’s land are in the clutches of encroachers.

However, Odisha is yet to formulate an anti-land grabbing law on the lines of Andhra Pradesh despite a proposal to this effect.

Revenue minister Surjya Narayan Patro admitted in the Assembly on December 5 last year that 39,031 acres of government land was under encroachment in various districts.

The increasing land encroachment calls for a stringent law. Giridhari Das, an expert in revenue laws, said: “It’s high time for the government to enact a stringent law to deal with land encroachment. The existing law in the state does not have teeth to deal with land-grabbers.”

Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 1972, only deals with government land and the revenue and civil courts can only evict an encroacher.

Land encroachment is a not a cognisable offence punishable under the law. The courts do not have criminal powers, sources said.

On the other hand, the Andhra Pradesh Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, enacted in 1982, has been effective in curbing encroachment. Under the Act, land grabbing in any form is an offence punishable by law. Such an offence is punishable with imprisonment for not less than six months, which may extend up to five years with a fine of up to Rs 5,000.

The Andhra law also provides for constitution of special courts for speedy inquiry and trial of these cases. The special courts are headed by a high court judge or a district judge.

The competent authority appointed by the government or the revenue divisional commissioner has to implement the orders of the special court.

A senior government advocate said if a special legislation with the above provisions was enacted, it would play a deterrent to encroachers in the state.

Official sources said the state’s advocate general had favoured the proposal to enact a legislation on the lines of the Andhra law.

The law department is to give its nod to the draft Odisha Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill prepared by the revenue department. Once it is vetted by the law department, it would be placed before the cabinet for approval.

Patro said the matter was under active consideration of the government. Apart from the new bill, the existing Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment Act had been amended to make it more stringent.

“Earlier, the encroachers had to pay Rs 100 per acre per year as fine. Now he has to pay five per cent of the land value as fine. If any construction has come up on the encroached land, water and electricity supply would be disconnected,” he said.

Former director of land records Dwijabar Kanungo said the government was not sincere about the issue. “It’s more of a sloganeering. The ruling class is either involved in the land grabbing or protecting the encroachers,” he said.