Paradip, June 13: The port trust has come under scanner for an alleged unlawful transfer of land. An estimated 178 acre owned by the state government has been found to have deceitfully transferred to organisations and individuals, sparking off a controversy.

At a time when both the state government and the port trust are locked in a five-decade-old land row, the latest scam has made things worse.

Jagatsinghpur district administration has asked the Paradip Port Trust authorities to submit a compliance report on the alleged arbitrary and illegal diversion of government land.

“We have come across incriminating discrepancies. The port authorities have perpetrated gross impropriety. Some private firms and individuals have been handed over land at Rs 1 per square foot,” said Jagatsinghpur collector Satya Kumar Mallick.

A total of 131 plots, measuring around 178 acre, has been illegally sold out in the name of peripheral development of the port. They are bereft of their right to transfer the said land as they don't own it. The land disposal has been effected at low premium charge. The beneficiaries of the land-transfer deal are export bodies, stevedores, industrial houses and private individuals. The land transfer has been done either by lease deed or sale. Such act is illegal as the port trust does not own the land on records, Mallick told The Telegraph. The port trust is in operation on a 6,382-acre patch of contiguous land. The state government legally owns the said land.

The official transfer of the land in favour of the port is yet to materialise. The state government has claimed over 1,072.27 acre for its own use and has not transferred the land till date. The disagreement dates back to May 18, 1966, when the port trust was accorded the status of country’s eighth major port under the Major Ports Act, 1963.

Recently, the state government has constituted a sub-committee for early settlement of the land dispute. The sub-committee is headed by Mallick with additional district magistrate of Paradip, Kujang tehsildar, and the secretary and the estate officer of the port trust being other members. The committee was empowered to take stock of the existing land and work out an amicable settlement of the issue, said an official.

The government has resolved to transfer the land at the earliest. The matter was referred to higher authorities of the state government for next course of action as the port virtually donned the role of land broker, said an official.

Senior assistant estate officer K. Trirumoolar said: “In the 80s, the revenue department had conferred us the power to sub-lease land. However, the government is yet to transfer the land to the port.”

In reply, Mallick said: “No such order was ever issued to empower them to sell the land owned by the government.”