The BJP on Sunday supported the bar associations which are protesting the State Government’s decision of abolishing the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT).
A seven-member team of bar associations led by SAT Steering Committee convenor Bijay Kumar Ragada met party State president KV Singh Deo here and sought the BJP’s support in their movement against the Government decision.
“The SAT abolition decision is fully wrong. The BJP is supporting the ongoing agitation and will continue to support in coming days,” Singh Deo told the team.
SAT Steering Committee member Chandramadhab Singh, SAT Bar Association (Cuttack) former president Dhuliram Patnaik and incumbent president Ullas Mohanty, Odisha BJP legal Cell co-convenor Rabishankar Patnaik, SAT Bar Association (Bhubaneswar) president Suryanarayan Das and secretary Amiya Chhatoi were in the team.
There are about 3 lakh cases pending at the Orissa High Court and 60,000 with the SAT. If the SAT is closed, the HC would be over loaded with the cases and the Government would face severe problems in getting justice, argued the lawyers.