A draft audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the sale of land owned by members of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities in Odisha found that in a third of cases, sub-collectors permitted the sale of land on emergency medical grounds even when the state government was running a state-sponsored health insurance scheme.
The audit, covering the period from 2018 to 2023, found that revenue officials in three subdivisions — Sonepur, Birmaharajpur and Kendrapara — systematically violated legal safeguards designed to protect marginal landowners from exploitation. HT has reviewed the draft report.
Under Section 22(1) of the Odisha Land Reforms (OLR) Act, 1960, land owned by SCs/STs cannot be sold or gifted to a non-ST/ST without the express permission of the Sub-Collector to protect the interests of the SC/ST.
Of the 1,287 cases involving the transfer of 661,073 acres (ST – 104,808 acres and SC – 556,265 acres) that occurred in the three subdivisions during that period, the audit team examined 528 cases, of which 335 cases involving approximately 379 acres were found to be “irregular.”
Of the 335 violations, the sub-collectors allowed sale of 120.70 acres in 111 cases for medical treatment. “While the Odisha government has provided universal free healthcare through the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, providing coverage up to $5 lakh and $“10 lakh women, this coverage made the sale of land for medical treatment an invalid pretext,” the draft report noted. Auditors found that in 86 of these cases, there were no records or documentation to verify the legitimacy of the medical need.
HT reached out to the State Revenue and Disaster Management Department but did not receive a response. The report will be updated once you respond.
The responses received from the concerned sub-collectors will be incorporated in the final report, CAG officials said.
The Sonepur sub-collector defended the actions, stating that the permissions were granted on a “genuine basis” and that the allegations were verified by local Tahasildars. However, the CAG said the response was “unacceptable”.
The sale of SC/ST lands to non-STs for marriage and payment of loans was prohibited under official guidelines issued in 1998. In 133 cases, 160,355 acres were transferred for reasons including marriage, higher education and construction of houses. In many cases, neither the applicants nor the investigating Tahasildars provided documentation to support these allegations.
Otherwise, 97,866 acres were transferred in 91 cases for “loan repayment,” with no records showing loan amounts, purposes, or outstanding balances. In Sonepur, the sub-collector reportedly granted permissions based only on self-affidavits from applicants.
The OLR Act requires that after the sale, the SC/ST applicant must retain “at least one standard acre” of land to ensure moderate means of livelihood for his family. The review identified at least 17 cases where remaining lands fell below this survival threshold. Furthermore, permission was granted to transfer ownership of common lands, which is in direct contravention of existing regulations.
The review also found that SC/ST landowners may have been used as “conduits” to third parties, with 71 cases identified in which land was purchased from SC/ST people and resold to non-ST/ST people within just one year. “Since officials made no effort to ascertain whether the sellers were acting on behalf of others, the possibility of using members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to facilitate illegal land sales…cannot be ruled out,” the report said.
