After Western Odisha, now a demand for a permanent Bench of the Odisha High Court has been voiced by the Bar Association of Baleswar.
At a Press meet, the association leaders said the Baleswar lawyers have begun a ceasework agitation from Wednesday afternoon which would continue till Saturday.
The next course of action would be taken after consultations with the bar associations of other districts, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Keonjhar in the State’s northern region, they said.
The Baleswar Bar Association, however, didn’t press for Baleswar as the place for the demanded HC Bench; rather its leader said that any suitable place for it may be decided by the State Government and the CR Pal Commission of Inquiry.
The association leaders stated that their demand has been pending since about seven years and the demand is a just one in view of the number of pending cases and distance from the remote places of northern districts to the High Court in Cuttack.
“It is a colossal task for a litigant to travel more than 400 km in one way to attend the High Court. There should a permanent HC Bench at any suitable place in north Odisha, not necessarily at Baleswar although Balaeswar is the most suitable location,” said Baleswar Bar Association president Niranjan Panda.
“We further demand that a Circuit Bench of the HC should be made functional for at least one day in a week in each district. We have prepared facts and figures in support of the demand. We will be submitting our demands in shape of affidavits to the Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice CR Pal whom we met on Tuesday to appraise about our demand,” Panda said.
Association secretary Raghunath Pradhan said, “We have no objection to a western Odisha permanent Bench; we want our case should also be considered.”
While the courts at Baleswar couldn’t function since afternoon on Wednesday, the same situation would also prevail for another two days, the association leaders said.
lawyers Prabhuddhananda Devgoswami, Debi Mohapatra, Bhabashankar Sahu, Kesab Acharya and Pinaki Dhir were present at the Press conference.