SC Toughens Stand On Odisha Lawyers’ Stir

New Delhi: Toughening its stand on striking lawyers in Odisha, the Supreme Court on Thursday served a notice to the chairman of the Odisha State Bar Council and president of the Orissa High Court Bar Association to appear in person.

The apex court also asked the chairman of the Bar Council of India to assist it on the action taken against agitating lawyers who have stalled proceedings in the High Court and district courts in Odisha.

Apart from this, the apex court also directed the Odisha government to provide adequate security to the litigants and lawyers who are willing to join their duty.

It also directed High Court Advocate Sivashankar Mishra to submit an affidavit mentioning the total number of workdays of the High Court and the lower courts in the state that were hampered from 2018 till date due to the strike by the lawyers.

With regard to the deployment of para-military force on the High Court premises, Mishra informed the apex court that the deployment of the central forces is not required at this stage to which the latter agreed.

The apex court posted the next hearing of the case to November 8.