Cuttack, April 28: The threat of illegal building activities to the ruins of Sisupalgarh, a 2,000-year-old fortified settlement on Bhubaneswar city outskirts, has come under judicial scrutiny.

Taking cognisance of a letter petition, Orissa High Court has issued notices to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), state revenue and culture department and the Bhubaneswar Development Authority.

Human rights activist and advocate Prabir Kumar Das filed the letter petition on the basis of a news report published in The Telegraph on March 5.

The division bench of Chief Justice A.K. Goel and Justice A.K. Rath has fixed July 10 for hearing the matter along with replies from the respondents.

Citing the report, Das in his letter petition, had sought direction to the state government and the ASI to take all necessary steps to protect and preserve the ruins of Sisupalgarh by demolishing illegal structures and constructions.

The report said that realtors had bought acres around the famous monolithic pillars made of laterite stone, also known as the Queen’s Chamber, in contravention of rules. They are building houses in the area even though such activities cannot take place near a historical site.

Following excavations by archaeologist B.B. Lal in 1947-48, the ASI declared the site with an area over 562.68 acres as a monument of national importance. Earlier, a moat surrounded the fort.

But now, only 0.77 acres of this entire land remain under the ASI’s control.

The small area lies near the western gate of the fort, which was excavated in the past.

“Some local people said that the land, on which the iconic pillars stand, was owned by a person. And he was about to ink a pact with a real estate agent. If the deal is done, the site will be ruined,” the report stated, quoting a senior ASI official.

With more than 1,000 buildings inside the fort area violating norms of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010, the situation justifies that there has been no action taken by the state and the ASI authorities to stop the illegal activities in the past.

“Sisupalgarh is well known as a fort settlement and ,with its design, stands out among its contemporary forts across the globe. It is one of its kind in India,” historian Prafulla Tripathy had told The Telegraph in an interview.

In 2000, the state government issued a notification barring conversion of agriculture plots into homestead land. But still, construction activities are on in full swing at Sisupalgarh. Moreover, a notification was issued in 2006 to ban housing plan in that protected area. But again, no action was taken to demolish the structures violating the act.