lawyers of the Orissa High Court here on Tuesday resorted to an indefinite relay hunger strike pressing for their demand of filling up the vacant posts of judges in the court.
Along with the executive members of the Orissa High Court Bar Association led by its president Srikant Kumar Nayak, several members of the bar sat on hunger strike in front of their association office from 10.30 am to
5 pm.
“As decided by the association on Monday, no fresh case was filed in the court on the day and the clients were requested not to appear before the benches to argue their own cases,” informed association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty.
The lawyers are on strike since February 12 alleging that due to insufficient judges in the Orissa High Court, the pending cases are mounting by the day. Over 1.72 lakh cases are now pending in the court.
“Over 40 per cent of the sanctioned posts of judges are now lying vacant in the High Court,” Mohanty said, adding that 16 judges are now functioning against a sanctioned strength of 27 while two judges are going to retire in next four months.
