Bhubaneswar, Jan. 21: The Puri district judge today stayed the order of the civil judge that had directed the authorities to remove the memorial of former chief minister Biju Patnaik at Swargadwar.

The civil judge (junior division), in its order on December 27 last year, had directed the Puri Municipality to remove the structure within three months, describing it as encroachment.

The municipal authorities had challenged the lower court's order. After hearing the objections, district judge Aswini Mohapatra stayed the order and posted the case for February 6.

The authorities argued that their case was not properly heard in the lower court and argued that the Biju samadhi was built on plot No. 1,452 and not 1,455, on which the case was going on.

The lower court had directed the authorities not to raise any construction, erect any structure, pandal or statue or raise any other construction changing the nature and character, location or extent of the land other than that for public cause or effective use of the land by community.

The former chief minister died on April 17, 1997, and his body was cremated at Swargadwar. Later, an attempt was made by BJD workers to erect the Samadahi Sthal in 1999. Opposing the move, five persons from Puri - Ramesh Prasad Singh, Bikash Kumar Satpathy, Manoj Kumar Das, Laxmi Naryan Tripathy and Subhransa Mohanty - moved the court. The court had also passed an injunction, forbidding the authorities not to construct any structure.

When the BJD government came to power in 2000, the municipal authorities moved swiftly and built the memorial, saying the property belonged to the Puri Muncipality.