Berhampur: Even as the agitation by lawyers’ association of Western Odisha demanding High Court bench in Sambalpur and Bolangir is yet to soothe anytime soon, the Ganjam BAR Association (GBA) urged the chief Minister Naveen Patanik to facilitate establishment of a permanent bench of high court in Berhampur.
Office bearers of GBA submitted a memorandum in favour of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Earlier, lawyer’s team along with Berhampur MLA RC Chaupatnaik, MLA (Gopalpur) Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy and former Union Minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu, had visited the CM in his residence in Bhubaneswar and discussed with him in this regard.
The CM assured to look into the matter.
At present the GBA has been boycotting courts for last four days of every month as part of their agitation. It is continuing for last 10 yrs.
The lawyer’s team said that Berhampur was the suitable place for setting up of the bench as it fulfilled all criteria suggested by Jaswant Singh Commission.
The GBA president said around 35 per cent of the pending cases in High Court are from 10 southern Odisha district like Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Boudh, Kalahandi and Nuapada.
Moreover, Berhampur is the biggest city of Southern Odisha and is also headquarter of the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), southern divisional and is well connected by roads and rail network.
“The GBA has decided to intensify its ongoing agitation for setting up of the high court bench in Berhampur if their pleas are left unheard,” said a lawyer.
PNN
