Orissa HC Settles A Five-Decade-Old Forest Contract Litigation Case
Orissa High Court orders Forest Department to compensate contractors at current market value or deliver wood logs, penalising officials for delaying decades-old case.
Published : September 10, 2025 at 7:31 PM IST
Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has directed the Forest Department of the Odisha government, as Judgment Debtor, to either deliver wood logs under a disputed forest contract or pay compensation to two registered forest contractors, as Decree Holders, at the present market value, while also imposing exemplary costs on the erring officials for prolonging the decades-long litigation.
In a ruling on Monday, Justice Dixit Krishna Sripad held that the Judgment Debtors must supply to the Decree Holders the agreed quantity of logs through the Orissa Forest Development Corporation or any other State agency within three months.
This is subject to the Decree Holders making good the deficit of stipulated payments, along with simple interest at 6 per cent per annum calculated from February 22, 1997, the date when their execution case was dismissed by the Civil Judge, Karanjia. The Court ordered that such payments be cleared within four weeks.
As an alternative, the Court permitted the Debtors to pay the present market value of the logs, minus the deficit payments with accrued interest, to the Decree Holders within the same three-month window.
Significantly, the Court also imposed a penalty of Rs. 2 lakh on the Judgment Debtors by way of exemplary costs, citing their responsibility for “a slew of avoidable litigations” that forced the Decree Holders to fight for decades. Justice Sripad clarified that this amount may be recovered from the erring officials in accordance with the law.
The direction arises from a long-drawn forest contract dispute that had earlier reached the Supreme Court in Civil Appeals, way back in 1979, which was disposed of through a common order on March 27, 1993. Despite clear settlement terms recorded by the apex court, execution of the decree was delayed for nearly three decades, compelling the High Court to pass stern directions.
The order underscores judicial intolerance towards prolonged obstruction of decree execution and signals accountability of government officials responsible for needless litigation. Justice Sripad in the opening paragraphs of the judgement, observed that way back in 1872, the Privy Council in The General Manager of the Raja Durbhunga v. Maharaja Coomar Ramaput Singh observed that the actual difficulties of a litigant in India begin when he has obtained a decree.
“The unhappy scenario has not much changed since then to this day. In the case at hand, nearly five decades having lapsed in the court corridors, not even a fig leaf has fallen into the pocket of Decree Holders. Delayed justice is an egregious form of human rights violation. At least, as a concession to the shortness of human life, litigation longevity needs to be shortened by devising new techniques. It is high time that the stakeholders converge their ideas to achieve it”, Justice Sripad added.
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