Lawyers agitation paralyses functioning of courts in Sambalpur

The agitation by the lawyers demanding the establishment of a Orissa High Court bench in western Odisha paralysed the functioning of the courts in Sambalpur district Thursday.

The agitating lawyers prevented the judges and employees from going inside the court premises, officials said.

Chairman of the Sambalpur Bar Association Action Committee Pradeep Bohidar said a decision has been taken to continue with the agitation in the general body meeting of the association Thursday.

He said, a delegation of lawyers of Western Odisha Bar Associations had called on the Chief Minister over the demand of establishment of high court bench in Western Odisha on August 6.

Patnaik had assured the lawyers that he would write a strongly-worded letter to the Centre and send an expert committee to pursue the matter with the Union Government.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday urged the Centre to take quick steps for establishment of permanent High Court benches in western and southern regions of the state to fulfil the aspirations of the people of these regions.

"We are thankful to the CM as he wrote the letter to the Union Government but he has not mentioned anything about the expert committee in this regard. We want the CM to take steps for the committee. Considering the negligence of the Union Government, we have decided to continue with our agitation," Bohidar said.

The lawyers said it is high time for the Union Government to take appropriate steps to establish the permanent high court bench in Western Odisha.