Sambalpur: An action committee has been formed to pressurise the government to establish a high court bench in Western Orissa.
Known as Western Orissa Citizen Action Committee (WOCAC), it was formed Sunday. Its members, drawn from different places, pledged that they would spearhead the ongoing movement for establishment of a high court bench somewhere in western Orissa.
About 5,000 people from various parts of western Orissa will sit on a dharna in front of the Orissa High Court November 10, WOCAC declared.
Speaking to the press, WOCAC spokesperson Deepak Panda said initially 20 members were taken from different places of western Orissa to form WOCAC. Bhagwat Nanda was consensually nominated as the convenor of the committee along with himself and Prafulla Hota as spokespersons, he said.
Panda said that representatives from different places like Gudbhaga, Attabira, Bargarh, Bheden, Sonepur, Boudh, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Rairakhol and Melchhamunda were inducted into the committee as members as of Sunday. More members will join the committee in due course, he added.
“It is a people’s movement, so people from each and every section of the society are requested to come forward to support as well as participate in the agitation,” Panda said, adding the onus is on every member of the committee to conduct meetings to raise awareness among the people about the need for a high court bench in western Orissa besides motivating more and more people to join the agitation in front of the High Court November 10.
WOCAC convenor Bhagwat Nanda said the demand for a high court bench in the region was raised initially in 1959 by the practicing lawyers. Subsequently, it became a people’s movement as the Citizen Action Committee took over the reins of the movement.
“Our state government as well as the Union government have consented to establish a high court bench in western Orissa and both of them have written letters to each other regarding this,” Nanda said.
He further clarified that enactment of a law is necessary for it and the Union government had written to the Orissa High Court seeking its opinion. “Unfortunately, our High Court is sitting tight on the issue, so our agitation in front of the High Court is intended to remove the inertia,” Nanda said.
The Sambalpur Citizen Action Committee had earlier convened a meeting here Sunday, inviting representatives from different places of all the 10 districts of western Orissa to take a consensus decision on the future course of action to press the demand for a bench of high court in western Orissa. PNN
