75th Year Celebration Of Orissa High Court Marked By 75 Verdicts On Single Day By One Division Bench

Cuttack: The High Court of Orissa is all set to complete 75 years of its establishment on July 26. Ahead of this momentous occasion, a bench of the High Court is likely to pronounce 75 verdicts on a single day on Monday.

Sources said this rare feat will make the 75^th anniversary celebrations of the High Court really memorable. A division bench comprising Justice Debabrata Dash and Sanjeev Kumar Panigrahi is set to deliver these judgments.

It may be noted here that the High Court of Orissa was established on July 26, 1948 in Cuttack. Functioning of the court proceedings was shifted to a new seven-storey building adjacent to the old one, since January 2, 2014.

After a yearlong marvelous celebration, a grand finale is going to be held on July 26 to be graced by President Draupadi Murmu.

Ahead of this, the division bench of Justice Dash and Dr Justice Panigrahi will go on a marathon delivery of judgments in 75 criminal appeals pending for last seven years or so which had been filed challenging the verdicts of sessions courts in the state in murder cases under section-302 of the IPC. All these Appeals had been heard from June 21, 2023 onwards, sources said.

When the Indian judiciary has been devising new methods, forging new tools and innovating new strategies for taking justice to common man; this is regarded as a noble addition to the cheering step taken by the High Court.

This praiseworthy action of delivery of 75 judgments before the celebration of 75 years of journey of this great institution is a fitting tribute to the grave concern raised by the President in her address on the Constitution day at New Delhi on the issue of long pendency of criminal appeals to the great sufferance of large number of persons lodged in jails, whose Trials and Appeals are not disposed of within a reasonable time although promised under the Constitution and resultantly, so many innocent persons are languishing in jails and for the delay, the prime periods of their lives getting lost beyond restoration.

This remarkable achievement not only adds another feather on the cap of this great institution but also gives true colour and flavour on the celebration day of completion of its 75th year.