Cuttack, Aug. 26: The controversy over acquiring private land for the proposed Posco steel plant ended today with the state government seeking Orissa High Court’s permission to withdraw the notification for acquiring the land.

The notification was issued over seven years ago to acquire 433.24 acres of private land for the Posco plant in Jagatsinghpur district.

Advocate general Ashok Mohanty today sought the court’s permission to withdraw the notification while submitting that the state government had decided not to acquire private land for the Posco project.

On September 9, 2011, the high court had issued a status quo order on acquiring private plots in seven villages for the proposed Posco steel plant.

The state revenue department had issued a notification on January 4, 2006, for land acquisition. After five years of not taking any action on the notification, the state government suddenly decided to pursue it in 2011. Subsequently, Nishakar Khatua and five other villagers of Govindpur-Dhinkia-Nuagaon filed a writ petition challenging the land acquisition proceedings.

Taking note of the submission made by the advocate general today, the division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice B.N. Mohapatra allowed the state government’s petition while vacating its status quo order.