Stay on VSS eviction drive lifted

Cuttack: The state High Court vacated a stay granted earlier on eviction of encroachers in the VSS Medical College and Hospital campus and directed the state government to continue its eviction drive after dismissing the petition.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice B N Mohapatra on Tuesday dismissed another petition with a similar prayer and asked the government to complete the eviction drive soon and submit a report to the court within 10 days.

It may be recalled here that the HC last year had asked the government to launch a massive eviction drive inside the campus of the hospital and remove all encroachments when the students of the medical college had alleged that unsocial elements were creating nuisances in the campus.

However, the court granted a stay after hearing a petition filed by Sasmita Panigrahi praying for a stop to the drive. Encouraged by the stay order obtained by Sasmita, another person Gouri Das too approached the High Court with a similar prayer.

But this time when the matter was listed before the court of the Chief Justice, the government counsel told the court that the eviction process had come to a halt because of the stay order granted by another bench of the HC. The Bench, headed by the Chief Justice tagged both the cases and adjudicating over it jointly dismissed the petitions.