CUTTACK: The Orissa high court on Thursday admitted a petition challenging the promotion of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation ( Kalia ) scheme of the state government, bringing under judicial scrutiny the Rs 10,180 crore scheme that was launched a month ago.The case assumes significance as chief minister Naveen Patnaik had, while launching Kalia, termed it ‘progressive and a direct attack on poverty’ and ‘historical in the sense that it covers almost 92 per cent of the cultivators in the state and almost all landless agricultural labourers’. Besides, Naveen had justified the scheme calling it a better option than a loan waiver . The state government has reportedly withdrawn more than Rs 734 crore from its contingency fund for the implementation of the scheme.The petition was filed by the Bhubaneswar-based human rights activist, Subash Mohapatra, 46. He sought quashing of the scheme as ‘it was drawing huge public money from the contingency fund of the state’. In his petition, Mohapatra has alleged that the action was ‘in contravention of the Orissa Contingency Fund Act, 1967’ and ‘liable to be quashed in the interest of justice’.“After a preliminary hearing, the division bench of chief justice K S Jhaveri and justice Biswajit Mohanty on Thursday admitted the petition after being prima facie satisfied with the issue raised in it,” petitioner’s counsel Sidhartha Prasad Das told TOI. “The bench further directed an expeditious hearing on the matter,” Das added. The court has, however, not fixed any date for the state government to file a reply to the petition and for a hearing on the matter.The Kalia scheme has five interventions — support to cultivators for cultivation, livelihood support to landless households, financial assistance to vulnerable agricultural households and landless labourers, life insurance cover and interest-free crop loan. Under the scheme, the state government will provide financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per family (Rs 5,000 each for the kharif and rabi season) to small and marginal farmers (around Rs 30 lakh) for taking up cultivation. Under the scheme, Rs 10,180 crore will be spent over three years until 2020-21.The petition has alleged that promoting the scheme is ‘illogical’, ‘arbitrary’, ‘capricious’, ‘discriminatory’ and ‘unconstitutional’. “We have primarily challenged the notification of the scheme that was issued on December 22, 2018, by the department of agriculture and farmers’ empowerment and that was followed by a gazette notification on the same on December 24,” the petitioner’s counsel said.

Stay updated with all the Latest Cuttack headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.