A decision over rollback of the State Cabinet’s proposal to abolish the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) continues to be uncertain despite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s assurance to lawyers to reconsider the move.
Already, one month has passed since the Cabinet took the decision to abolish SAT sparking protests among the lawyer community followed by their agitation.
A team of the Odisha Bar Council had met the Chief Minister and appealed to him to reconsider the decision.
The Cabinet approved abolition of the SAT on September 9. The High Court Bar Association and the Bhubaneswar Bar Association had immediately launched their protest. Even employees’ unions and retired employees’ associations had protested the move.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has drawn the attention of Union Minister Personnel Jitendra Singh in this regard while the lawyers have approached the Orissa High Court Chief Justice to intervene in the issue.
The lawyers are of the view that the Cabinet’s decision will slow down the cases pending in the courts. Approximately, two lakh cases are pending in the High Court and six posts of judges are lying vacant.
Only four judges are hearing the cases in the SAT’s Cuttack and Bhubaneswar Benches and in the Sambalpur and Brahmapur Circuit Benches. More than 58,000 cases are pending in the SAT. If the State Government proceeds with its decision then the pressure on the High Court would mount.
Former SAT Government Advocate Prahlad Kumar Sinha has suggested that the Government go in for some other alternatives without abolishing the tribunal.
A senior bureaucrat said a final decision on the issue would be taken by the Chief Minister, the Union Government and the High Court.