lawyers in western Odisha on Monday resumed their agitation by staging demonstration and locking gates of various courts and Government offices demanding immediate establishment of High Court Bench in their region.
The agitation will continue till February 13, the day the current session of the Assembly ends.
All the State and Central Government offices and courts remained closed for the whole day due to the agitation of the lawyers of Sambalpur. The situation in most other parts of western Odisha remained the same.
Sambalpur District Bar Association president Krishna Chandra Baboo and members of the Central Action Committee (CAC) fighting for establishment of a High Court Bench in western Odisha joined in the agitation.
As per the decision taken earlier by the CAC and other bar associations of the region, the lawyers sat in dharna in front of all important Government offices and did not allow the officers to enter their respective offices. Even the Judicial Magistrates could not attend courts due to picketing of the lawyers.
However, the lawyers spared educational institutions keeping in view the various annual examination including entrance exams for different technical courses. Health services functioned normally.
While lawyers decided to paralyse activities in all Government offices, they would close the Banks and all other financial institutions on February 7, 8, and 10, informed CAC member Pradeep Kumar Bahidar.
lawyers of Balangir, Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Sundargarh too resumed their agitations.
The Balangir District Bar Association staged a dharna in front of the District and Sessions Judge Court here demanding HC Bench in Balangir.
In Rourkela, lawyers under the banner of the Rourkela Bar Association and Sundargarh Bar Association (SBA) too closed the Government offices and various courts functioning at Sundargarh and Rourkela
condemning no move for fulfulment of their demand for a HC Bench in western Odisha.