Lawyers on indefinite hunger strike, demanding HC bench

Sambalpur: Irked by the alleged failure of the state government in establishing a permanent bench of the High Court in western Odisha, lawyers of the region on Wednesday launched an indefinite hunger strike even as their boycott of judicial work continued for the third day.

Members of Central Action Committee (CAC) of Western Odisha Lawyers Association began hunger strike outside the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) office here.

Those who sat on hunger strike are CAC convener Ashok Das, senior members Sureswar Mishra, Pramod Das, Satya Narayn Panda and Santosh Satpathy.

The lawyers of Western Odisha districts who are boycotting judicial work since February 3 demanding fulfilment of their demands will continue boycotting judicial work till February 13 after which future course of action will be decided depending on discussion with the government, Ashok Das said.

The lawyers have urged all banks and financial establishments to close their shutters in support of their demand on February 7, 8 and 10, Das said.

At present Orissa High Court has only one and the principal bench at Cuttack.