Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for early establishment of a permanent bench of High Court (HC) in western and southern Odisha.
In the letter, the Chief Minister requested the Union Minister to refer to his earlier letters dated September 28, 2013, and February 13, 2014, in which he had urged for establishment of HC benches in western and southern Odisha.
“There has been persistent demand from the people of these regions for setting up permanent benches of Orissa High Court to mitigate the inconvenience faced by the litigants. I had further conveyed the assurance of the state government to provide adequate resources for establishment of the High Court benches in these areas,” Naveen said.
Stating that the views of the High Court on his government’s recommendation had not materialised so far, he said, “it is learnt that from the response received from Minister, Law and Justice, Government of India, vide letter no.11018 dated October 7, 2015, that the Orissa High Court is seized with the process of examination of statistics regarding the number of cases originating from various regions.”
To drive the point home, the Chief Minister also referred to the decisions of the Supreme Court, including the case of Federation of bar Associations of Karnataka vs Union of India and Others as well as the recommendation of the Commission headed by Justice Jaswant Singh for establishment of the bench of a High Court away from its principal seat.
“In our view, there is adequate jurisdiction for establishment of permanent benches of Orissa High Court in the western and southern parts of Odisha and the criteria laid down by Justice Jaswant Singh Commission are also substantially met. The Parliament has the prerogative to establish such benches in exercise of its powers under Entry-78 of the Union List,” he further added.
