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Bhubaneswar: With the lawyers strike in eight western Odisha districts entering the fourth day, the Central Action Committee (CAC) of All Western Odisha Bar Association (AWOBA) on Friday decided to raise two issues - withdrawal of Justice C R Pal Commission and setting up of HC bench in the region during a meeting with Chief minister Naveen Patnaik tomorrow at State Secretariat here.
"We will present our demands before the Chief Minister during the meeting tomorrow. We want withdrawal of Justice Pal commission and the state to recommend the Central government for setting up of HC bench in Western Odisha. The CM must be aware of our demands as he has invited us to meet,” said Ashok Das, convenor of CAC, which is spearheading the movement for a high court bench in the region.
The demand of CAC does not get support from lawyers of High Court. Vehemently opposing the demand of CAC, HC Bar Association's vice president Milan Kumar Badu said, "The region does not fulfil the criteria to get a separate HC bench. The required number of cases from the region is not filed in the State High Court. Besides, the districts are not more than 500km distance away from HC."
Notably, the HC lawyers today observed a day-long cease work as a token protest against the ongoing agitation in western Odisha.
However, Law Minister Maheswar Mohanty is quite hopeful about the meeting. The minister said a solution would definitely come out from the discussion.
Meanwhile, the Bar Association at Balasore started its two-day cease work stir making similar demand of a permanent bench of Orissa HC in their region.
Sources said the next course of action would be taken after consultation with the associations of other districts namely Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Keonjhar of northern Odisha.
