Sambalpur court resumes work after a month of lawyers’ strike, Sec 144 prevails

Normalcy returned to the district court of Sambalpur on Tuesday as it began its proceedings after over a month of lawyers’ strike.

However, Section 144 is still prevailing inside and around the court premises keeping in view the palpable tension regarding the demand of a High Court Bench in Sambalpur.

The district court saw the regular hustle and bustle on Tuesday with lawyers and clients getting on to work and cases being heard of.

Sabbir Ahmed, a member of the district bar council said, “We have resumed work from today. I hope everything will be normalised soon enough.

Earlier in late December, the State Bar Council had called upon the agitating lawyers to resume court work. Calling upon the lawyers to join work, the State Bar Council had said, justice without lawyers is never possible. They play an important part in the administration of justice. As the court work was hampered badly because of the strike, common people faced a lot of problems. Keeping this in mind, the State Bar Council had appealed lawyers to join duty.

Even if the Supreme Court had said no to the demand of Sambalpur lawyers seeking a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court in the district, the lawyers still stuck to their demand. Their agitation turned violent on December 12, 2022 when the agitating lawyers damaged court property and ransacked the judge’s chamber.

Following the violence, the Bar Council of India (BCI) suspended licenses of 54 lawyers involved in ransacking the court. The action was taken after the Registrar of Sambalpur Civil Court furnished the names of lawyers who were reportedly involved in the act of vandalism after identifying them from the CCTV footage and video clips.

Besides 54 advocates, all other advocates have been allowed by the BCI to practice at their respective courts, who have joined work today.

(Reported By Sanjay Jena, OTV)