Baripada: Even as people in western and southern Odisha have long been demanding a high court bench in their regions, the same issue has now been raised in north Odisha.
A day after lawyers boycotted courts in Balasore district, their counterparts in Mayurbhanj district started boycott of courts from Thursday and their agitation will continue for two more days.
Activities in all judicial courts in the district were paralysed Thursday as lawyers took out a procession here demanding establishment of a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court at Baripada. The Mayurbhanj District Bar Association has called for a three-day agitation over the issue.
The association president, Prabir Basa, criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for not recommending to the Centre for establishment of permanent bench of high court in north Odisha. The Chief Minister had recently written a letter to the Centre recommending establishment of permanent bench of high court in western and southern Odisha. But he had not mentioned about north Odisha, Basa alleged.
Court proceedings were hit in Udala and other parts of the district too.
On the other hand, lawyers of Balasore have strongly pitched for high court bench in the district. The issue appears to be messy day by day when voices are being raised in various parts of the state.
President of Balasore Bar Association, Niranjan Panda had stated, “We have long been demanding for a high court bench in Balasore. We have submitted memoranda to the Orissa High Court and the state government.”
Balasore lawyers have asserted that their district meets all criteria and has infrastructure for the high court bench while people of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar will have no problem coming to Balasore.
PNN
