Cuttack:Utkal Sahitya Samaj, the oldest literary organisation of Odisha, has decided to confer 'Justice Dipak Mishra Sahitya Samman' from the next year. The centenary institution established in 1903, for the first time, is going to award a literary person for his or her overall contributions to Odia literature.
Speaking to media persons on Wednesday, former Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Mishra said his family has decided to set a corpus fund for encouraging literary persons of the state and every year, it will give a cash award of Rs. one lakh to an eminent writer of the state.
The corpus fund will also meet the annual expenditure of the Utkal Sahitya Samaj award function, Mishra added. For this purpose, Justice Mishra handed over cheques of Rs 4.2 lakhs to the President of the Utkal Sahitya Samaj on the day in the presence of other office bearers of the Samaj.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Justice Mishra said his family is also contemplating to establish either a Trust or Fund to encourage more and more literary persons by associating with other literary institutions.
Born to a literary family, Justice Mishra too has written four books in Odia based on Mahabharat, the latest being "Mu Asĥwatthama Kahuchi".
