Union Law & Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has advised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to have consultation with the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court (HC) regarding the latter’s proposal of establishment of permanent Benches of the HC in western and southern parts of the State.
Replying to a letter of Patnaik, the Union Minister said, “It is imperative that the Chief Justice of the High Court is consulted and recommendations of Orissa High Court obtained before setting up any Bench of the High Court in the State.
The same process is followed in case of all other High Courts.”
“It goes without saying that once the recommendation of the High Court is obtained, the State Government has to provide the requisite infrastructure immediately,” Prasad sais in his reply.
Once the State Government along with the High Court communicates their views, the Union Government would take further necessary action in this matter, he concluded.
Notably, Patnaik had written to Prasad a couple of days back urging the latter to take an early decision for establishment of permanent Benches of the High Court in western and southern Odisha.
Reacting to Prasad’s letter, the Sambalpur Bar Association (SBA) expressed its strong displeasure and said both the Union and State Governments are throwing the ball to each other’s court.
“Both the Governments are playing politics of vote bank and befooling the people of western Odisha,” SBA president Bijendriya Pradhan told The Pioneer. “We will continue our agitation till the last,” he said.
“We condemn the letter. At least, the Union Law Minister should have accepted the proposal of the State Government in principle for establishment of HC Benches in western and southern regions.
If the Centre requires any other things like locations and jurisdictions of the Benches, he should have mentioned it instead of writing a routine reply,” Pradhan.
Senior SBA member NC Dani said. "The Modi Government is showing double standards. In case of western Odisha, Ravi Shankar Prasad has mentioned that consultation with HC Chief Justice is necessary, but ‘that necessary’ was not there in the cases of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Even in case of the Ranchi Bench in 1976, there was no recommendation of the Patna High Court.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing agitation launched by the SBA completed 132 days on Monday. The administration in the district, block and tehsil levels has collapsed due to the lawyers’ dharna in front of the Government offices.
Because of this, the State has been losing huge revenue for the last four months.
As the judiciary is not functioning and there is no adjudication of bail petitions, the number of prisoners in the Sambalpur Circle Jail has crossed 1,050 against its capacity of 541.