All Are Residents Of Village: Chunukoli vs State Of Odisha

Headnote AI-drafted · Reviewed and approved

The petitioners, tribal community members residing in the forest area of Andharua Gram Panchayat, Khordha District, filed a Public Interest Litigation opposing the alleged unauthorised realignment of a road from the original Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP). They contended that the deviation was intended to evict tribal occupants and demolish their dwelling houses, religious shrines, and community activity centres protected under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

The petitioners sought writs of mandamus, certiorari, and prohibition compelling the authorities to revert to the originally notified road trajectory published in the Extraordinary Gazette dated 14th May 2018, and to restrain the authorities from executing evictions or demolitions without due process of law. A connected writ petition W.P.(C) No.15819 of 2025 was filed by Ranjan Nayak raising similar challenges against the Bhubaneswar Development Authority and related departments.

The Orissa High Court, Cuttack Bench, heard the matters on multiple dates and delivered a consolidated judgment addressing issues of tribal rights, forest rights recognition, lawful road alignment, and protection of scheduled tribe communities from displacement without following the procedure prescribed under the Forest Rights Act and allied laws.

Catchwords: Public Interest Litigation · tribal rights · forest dwellers · road realignment · Comprehensive Development Plan · eviction · demolition · scheduled tribes · Forest Rights Act · Bhubaneswar Development Authority · writ of mandamus · writ of certiorari · writ of prohibition · displacement · religious shrines · community structures