Cuttack, April 23: Efforts to reinstate the lost glory of Kalinga Studio entered the legal portals once again with another Public Interest Litigation (PIL) being accepted by Orissa High Court.
Actress and director Saudamini Mishra had filed a similar PIL on February 27. Responding to the plea, the court has sent fresh notices to senior officials of the Odisha Film Development Corporation (OFDC) and Kalinga Studio. Pradyumna Mishra, 73, a former managing director of OFDC and Kalinga Studio filed the PIL accusing the state government of neglecting the two institutions.
The plea stated that government apathy was evident from the unchecked indulgence of OFDC and Kalinga Studio chairman Muzibullah Khan “in rampant corruption and misappropriation of corporation funds” in connivance with other senior officials.
After a preliminary hearing, the division bench of Chief Justice C. Nagappan and Justice Indrajit Mohanty has issued notices to Khan.
Notices have also been served on officials of the corporation and studio including managing director Suresh Chandra Suar, board member Sarat Chandra Naik and DGM Pratap Kumar Mishra. The state industry and public enterprises departments were also issued notices.
The court, while issuing the notices on Thursday, directed for listing of the case after three weeks for analogous hearing along with Saudamini Mishra’s PIL seeking judicial intervention for the revival of Kalinga Studio.
The court had suo motu registered the PIL on February 27 on the basis of a letter petition by Saudamini Mishra. She had alleged that the facility had become defunct due to alleged apathy of the government after reading a February 15 report published in The Telegraph.
Pradyumna Mishra, who is currently the convener of Cuttack Chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), filed the PIL seeking direction to the accountant general to conduct a special financial audit of OFDC and Kalinga Studio for the past five years.
“Mismanagement” and “rampant corruption” had rendered Kalinga “dysfunctional” since November 2007. At present, OFDC also has “no promotional activities of any kind worth the name” because of it, the PIL contends.
