The lawyers of the Orissa High Court on Thursday decided to abstain from court work from afternoon till Friday as a mark of protest against the transfer of judges from here elsewhere without the vacancies being filled up on time. He general body of the High Court Bar Association adopted a unanimous resolution to this effect when lawyers raised the issue of recent transfer of Justice Satrughna Pujahari from here to Madras HC. The Orissa High Court now has strength of 18 judges, including the Chief Justice, against its sanctioned strength of 22 judges. It was proposed to increase the strength of judges here to 27 in order to clear the backlog of cases within five years. Sources said that at least 1.70 lakh cases were pending disposal in the Orissa High Court by September 30 this year. A record 73,000 of the cases are writ petitions filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.