Pending the report of the Justice CR Pal Commission, the State Government is likely to recommend the Union Government for establishing a permanent Bench of the Odisha High Court in western Odisha in an attempt to end the month-long agitation and bring normalcy in the nine districts.
As the demand in support of the High Court Bench has turned out to be a mass movement with leaders of all the political parties extending their solidarity with the Central Action Committee (CAC) of lawyers that spearheads the agitation, the day-to-day administration and the judicial work has come to a halt. The struggle for the High Court Bench was so intense that the State Election Commission (SEC) had to postpone the already initiated poll process for the 25 of the 91 Urban local Bodies (UlBs) in the midway due to the poll boycott.
The SEC has asked the State Government to take steps to employ administrators in the 25 UlBs for a minimum period to bring the situation under control so as to facilitate the holding the mandatory elections in the left out UlBs.looking into the continuous strike and administrative paralysis, Chief Minister Naveen Panaik had asked the Justice Pal Commission to submit its report by end of October next. However, considering the progress of the Commission’s probe process, it is unlikely that a complete and comprehensive report would come within the stipulated time frame.
Since the CAC had already taken exception to the Justice Pal Commission probing the possibility of the setting up of the High Court Bench in western Odisha and had demanded the withdrawal of the Commission, the lawyers of the region would boycott the sittings of the panel to hear the pleas. Anyway, from the political perspective, the BJD chief and Chief Minister Patnaik, emboldened with the resounding victory in the recent polls in 66 UlBs, has reportedly made up his mind to go ahead in writing to the Union Government under the Constitutional provision to recommend the Supreme Court for setting up a permanent High Court Bench in western Odisha.
This would help the State Government to bring normalcy in the region and congenial atmosphere for holding polls in the 25 UlBs. The move of the Chief Minister no doubt would prove a boon for the ruling BJD which expects to reap maximum benefit in the UlB polls in western Odisha by winning the hearts of millions of people.
Sources said that the Chief Minister is considering recommending the SEC to hold the elections to the left out 25 UlBs and Cuttack and Bhubaneswar municipal corporations in December next. To further the move, Chief Minister Patnaik on Sunday discussed with the senior BJD leaders from western Odisha.
According to sources, the Chief Minister is all set to write to the Union Government on the High Court bench issue in the first week of October after the completion of the UlB poll process with the election to the post of chairman on September 30. “The State Government would take appropriate steps on the issue of permanent High Court bench in western Odisha soon within the ambit of the Constitutional provisions,” said Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya after meeting the Chief Minister at Naveen Nivas.