Demand For HC Bench In Western Odisha Intensifies

Jharsuguda: The demand for establishment of a permanent High Court bench in western Odisha grew shriller with the lawyers deciding to intensify the agitation.

At the Krinyanushthana committee meeting in Jharsuguda on Sunday, the lawyers decided on cease-work stir from September 17 to 26.

The committee members are also planning to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Odisha on September 22.  If they fail, a trip will planned to Delhi to meet the Union Minister, sources said.

“The Centre should bring an ordinance for establishment of a High Court bench in western Odisha. We will close down all the courts in the region from September 17 to 26 to press for our demand,” informed committee chief coordinator Ashok Das.

On September 5, the members of Sambalpur District Bar Association had staged a dharna at Nelason Mandela Chhak in Sambalpur. It had decided to shut down all the courts in the district from September 5 to 20, the last day of the ongoing monsoon session of the Odisha Assembly.

The same day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik 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 these regions.