SC Ruling Based On Wrong Information: Orissa HC Bar Association

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Bar Association on Wednesday maintained that it has never tried to stall court proceedings. This comes a day after the directive of the Supreme Court to deploy adequate security personnel to ensure smooth functioning of the court in view of the ongoing cease-work of the lawyers.

“We have never made any attempt to disrupt the court work. Rather, the apex court has given the ruling on the basis of the misleading information furnished by High Court lawyer Siva Shankar Mishra. The ruling is utterly baseless as it is not based on facts. I don’t know on what basis Mishra has given such statement to the apex court, which is nothing but a bunch of lies,” president of the Association, Gopal Krushna Mohanty told the media here.

On the deployment of para-military force in the High Court premises, Mohanty said the Association has not panicked as this is not a ‘cause of action’ (a bundle of material facts, which is necessary for the plaintiff to prove in order to get relief in a suit).

Mohanty further said the Association is quite optimistic that the High Court will not allow such things to happen and it will take necessary steps on its own to resolve the issue. Besides, the High Court is most likely to take an initiative to expunge the ruling the Supreme Court has given on the basis of the wrong information furnished by Mishra.

Justifying the cease-work by the High Court Bar lawyers, he said the lawyers have not completely disrupted court proceedings. Rather, they are observing silent protests against the inordinate delay in the appointment of judges as per the sanctioned strength.

“The vacant posts of judges in the High Court have not been filled up for the last 15 years. As against the sanctioned judge strength of 27, there are only 14 judges at present while more than 2.14 lakh cases are pending for disposal,” he pointed out.

Referring to the appointment of judges in the High Court, Mohanty said there is no transparency in the appointment of judges through the Collegium system. Not a single lawyer from Odisha has been elevated as judge of the Orissa High Court in the last four years, he added.

Mohanty also said that the Association at the Action Committee meeting held later in the day, took strong exception to the wrong information furnished by the High Court lawyer Siva Shankar Mishra and decided to take action against him.

“The Action Committee served a show-cause notice to Mishra and asked him to reply within seven days. If his reply is found unsatisfactory, the General Body of the High Court Bar Association will initiate the process for his suspension from the Bar. It was also decided that the High Court Bar will write a letter to the state government to keep Mishra out of its panel of lawyers. But no members of the Bar will be a party on this matter in the Supreme Court,” he said.

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