The letter written by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on establishment of the benches of the Odisha High Court in western and southern region has failed to satisfy the members of the Sambalpur District Bar Association.
The association in its general body meeting here on Friday evening has rejected the content of the letter and decided to intensify the ongoing agitation and closure of the Government offices in the district.
“There is nothing new in the letter of the Chief Minister and it is a repetition of the old one. The Chief Minister has truly not answered point by point to the Union Law Minister’s letter,” Bar Association president Bijendriya Pradhan told The Pioneer.
“There is no sincerity in its letter and written just to sabotage the ongoing agitation of the lawyers,” he added.
The Central Action Committee (CAC), a body of lawyers of different districts, spearheading the agitation would meet here on January 18 and will discuss the issue and take future course of action, he said.
Patnaik referring to his earlier letter of September 28, 2013, February 13, 2014 and September 5, 2018 to the Union Government addressed to the Law and Justice Minister Prasad had thrown the ball in the court of the Central Government to take a call on the issue.
Earlier, six MLAs of western Odisha met the Chief Minister and had requested him to take up the matter with the Union Government on the bench issue. Sambalpur MLA Dr Raseswari Panigrahi had requested the members of the Sambalpur Bar Association to suspend the agitation in view of their meeting with Patnaik and his request to them in view of the problems faced by the common people.
Meanwhile, the ongoing agitation and dharna by the lawyers has reached its 130th day. As a result, the functioning of various judicial courts and district administration has been paralysed causing hardship to the common people.