Bhubaneswar, Sept. 10 -- The Orissa High Court has directed the state government to pay an exemplary fine of Rs 2 lakh to the decree holders in a civil case that dragged on for more than three decades.
Pronouncing the judgment in the Execution Case, 1997, Single Bench judge Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad said the government was responsible for "a slew of avoidable litigations" that the decree holders were forced to fight for decades. The court also said the amount could be recovered from the erring officials in accordance with the law.
The case related to the non-implementation of a compromise decree issued by the Supreme Court in 1992.
The dispute originated in the 1970s between Udayanath Sahoo and R.S. Bhatia over a forest coupe contrac...