New Delhi: At least 83 working days of Orissa High Court were lost in 2018 and 2019 due to protests by lawyers and boycott of work depriving citizens of the state of getting timely justice.
According to an affidavit filed by the Registrar of Orissa High Court in the Supreme Court, out of 210 working days in 2018, 64 days were wasted due to cease-work or lawyers’ abstention from court work while 1.5 days were lost due to Bar Association strike. Similarly, 18 out of 174 days were lost till October this year.
The affidavit further said that the reasons for cease work or Bar Association strike were non-appointment of judges in Orissa High Court, inaction of police in the matter of murder of one advocate and protest against the atrocity of police.
Significantly, a lot many days of Bhubaneswar court were also lost. As many as 27 working days were lost in 2018 and 25 days were lost till October 2019. The affidavit further said 186 working days in the judgeship of Khurda district were lost in 2018 and 117 in 2019.
In Cuttack, 405 working days in 2018 and 197 working days in 2019 were lost till now.
As many as 772 working days of judiciary were lost in the judgeship of Bargarh district in 2018 and 927 days were lost till October 2019. Similarly, 224 days were lost in Angul in 2018 and 192 days were lost in 2019 till now.
The affidavit states that a lot many working days were lost in Bargarh due to the lawyers’ ceased work protest demanding establishment of High Court bench in Western Odisha.
It is to be mentioned here that the apex court October 24 had asked the counsel appearing for Orissa High Court to submit an affidavit mentioning the number of working days of judiciary lost due to the strike of lawyers in the state. The SC had asked the counsel to furnish details of all courts in the state.