Dub Pal panel report worthless
The Central Action Committee (CAC) of the western Odisha lawyers’ Associations has termed the report of the Justice CR Pal Commission as worthless.
The CAC’s reaction came in the wake of the media reports that the commission has felt no need for a permanent High Court Bench in western Odisha.
Senior advocate and CAC member Pradip Bohidar here remarked, “The Odisha Government had formed the Justice CR Pal Commission for its views on setting up of a permanent High Court Bench. However, the Government, instead of waiting for the report of the commission, has already recommended to the Centre to set up the proposed bench in western Odisha. This clearly shows the Government is not serious about going by the recommendations of the commission. We had no faith in the commission at the outset and nor do we have now.”
“The recommendation of the commission will have no effect on setting up a permanent HC Bench. The Central Government had earlier formed the Justice Yashwant Singh Commission for a permanent HC Bench. Based on the report of the commission, the CAC will formulate its future strategy and continue its fight till the bench is set up in western Odisha,” Bohidar added.
CAC secretary Niranjan Tripathy said that since Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has realised the necessity of a permanent bench in western Odisha and recommended to the Centre in favour of the proposed bench, he need not pay attention to the report of the Justice CR Pal Commission.
“The Chief Minister should take necessary steps to submit a final proposal on this in accordance with the letter of the Union law Minister,” Tripathy added.
It may be recalled that the CAC had earlier urged the State Government to scrap the Justice CR Pal Commission after raising doubts about its modus operandi and frequent extensions of its tenure.
While the Government has spent a huge amount of money towards the expenses of the commission, the latter had failed to submit its report in the last six years, the CAC said.