Cuttack: Expressing concern over the large number of vacancies of judges in the Orissa High Court, lawyers affiliated to High Court Bar Association launched a massive protest Monday.
In its Sunday edition, Orissa POST published an article that the HC is grappling with 17 judges, including the Chief Justice, against the sanctioned posts of 27. This has resulted in a sluggish judicial process and currently over 1.69 lakh cases are pending in different stages.
The lawyers launched their stir at 2 pm Monday and decided to continue their protest till February 19. The lawyers’ body also convened an emergency meeting in the afternoon alleging that the Orissa HC is being overlooked. Later, they unanimously agreed to boycott their work till February 19.
The HC Bar Association will meet again February 16 to chalk out strategies for their future course of action. The lawyers have intimated the Chief Justice as well as other Bar Associations about their move.
“Now there are only 16 judges in the HC, excluding the Chief Justice. Justices Subash Chandra Parija and DP Choudhury will retire from service after five months which will bring down the number of judges to 14. There is an inordinate delay in the judgement of cases due to lack of adequate number of judges. We demand immediate increase in the number of judges,” said HC Bar Association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty.
Bar Association president Srikant Kumar Nayak also echoed similar views. “No new judge has been appointed in the Orissa HC after 2015. With each passing day, the backlog of pending cases is increasing manifold. Although judges are taking retirement, no new judge is being appointed in their place. Till date, the number of judges of the HC has not reached its full strength of 27,” Nayak said.
The lawyers of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) have also extended their support to the Bar Association. “There are vacancies of chairperson and members of SAT. We demand immediately appointments to these posts,” said SAT Bar Association president Ullash Chandra Mohanty.
PNN