Shree Jagannath Land Settlement: Odisha Announces New Online Portal

26 Sep 2026, 08:24 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Bhubaneswar: Long-standing occupants of Shree Jagannath Temple land in Odisha will soon be able to apply online to regularise their land rights, as the state government moves to bring order to its vast religious estate.

The initiative replaces slow, paper-heavy reviews with a unified digital system, granting formal settlement rights to both hereditary servitors (sevayats) and non-servitors who have lived on temple-owned properties for decades without settled deeds.

The rollout was reviewed on Friday during a high-level administrative meeting at Lok Seva Bhawan, chaired by Law, Works, and Excise Minister Prithviraj Harichandan.

Rather than pursuing physical files across government offices, occupants can directly submit their residency details and claims through the new portal. The data will create a central, searchable inventory of who occupies each parcel, curbing secondary disputes, eliminating middlemen, and speeding up case decisions.

During the meeting, Harichandan reviewed the system design and directed technical teams to keep the user interface simple so ordinary applicants can navigate it without difficulty. He stressed that the portal must deploy quickly and operate transparently to avoid administrative delays.

The Puri shrine holds tens of thousands of acres spread across Odisha and neighbouring states. Because wide tracts were occupied informally over generations, settling tenancy has long posed legal and administrative challenges for both residents and the temple trust.

The push follows the Cabinet’s clearance earlier this month of the Shree Jagannath Temple Land Management Rules, 2026, which establish clear timelines and standard valuation norms to process claims. To verify claims on the ground, the new portal will sync directly with the state’s digital revenue platforms, Bhulekh and Bhunaksha, alongside physical field inspections by district authorities.

Senior officials attending the review included Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Chief Administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration and Additional Chief Secretary for Revenue; Vishal Dev, Additional Chief Secretary for Electronics and IT; Dr. Pabitra Mohan Samal, Principal Secretary for Law; and Shibaprasad Mahapatra, Additional Secretary for Law. Puri Collector Dibyajyoti Parida joined via video conference, alongside representatives from state IT agencies OCAC and ONIC.