Angul: The absence of senior district administration officials here Sunday, during the visit of Jharkhand High Court judge, Justice Pramath Patnaik, has sparked off a major controversy. They were not available and attending a picnic in spite of a letter from the Odisha High Court intimating them earlier of Justice Patnaik’s visit.
The Supreme Court Collegium had passed a request from Justice Patnaik to be transferred back to the Odisha High Court. Before his transfer, Justice Patnaik visited Angul, Sunday.
In this regard, the deputy registrar (A and P) of the Odisha High Court had written letters to the Collectors of Cuttack, Puri, Dhenkanal and Angul districts asking them to make suitable arrangements for the judge if he visited the districts. The letters said that Justice Patnaik would stay in Odisha as a state guest, January 12-15.
However, when the judge visited Angul, Sunday, none of the district administrative officials like collector Anil Kumar Samal were present to attend to him. Sources informed that all the top officials of the district administration had gone off to Jajpur on a picnic. Among others who attended the picnic were ADM Tapan Kumar Satapathy and project director of district rural development agency (DRDA) Atulya Kumar Champatiray. The Jajpur collector, ADM, sub-collector and Darpan tehsildar were also present at the picnic spot
It must be stated here that the Angul collector not only received the letter but also marked it to the Angul Nizarat to look after it. But Sunday when the judge arrived in the district, there was neither the collector nor the Nizarat officer to welcome him.
When querried on the issue, Angul assistant collector Ranjan Mohanty who is in charge of Nizarat, said, “I had no idea who visited the district. We were out of for a picnic. However, Ranjit Das, a clerk was there at the circuit house.”
According to information available, Angul District Session Judge Ashant Das and Sub-Judge Lilipta Pashayat were there at the circuit house to receive Justice Patnaik. The district police also gave him a Guard of Honour.
PNN