Odisha CM asks Centre to fill up vacant posts of HC Judges

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state recognises the importance of timely delivery of justice to common citizens and it has made substantial progress on important decisions taken during the last joint conference held on April 5 last year.
Patnaik, who attended the joint conference of the chief ministers of the states/UTs and chief justices of high courts here, said this in a written statement.
Expressing concern at the long pendency of cases in the State, Patnaik urged upon the Union Government to fill up the vacant eight posts of Judges in the Orissa High Court at the earliest.

He further said that that despite non-receipt of Central Assistance since 2014, Odisha has been making every possible effort to strengthen the court infrastructure and impressed upon the Centre to supplement the efforts of the State by providing additional resources for creating court infrastructure, residential buildings and other amenities.
He said that 30 Courts of Judicial Magistrate First Class have been established for ensuring speedy trial of offences against women in the State. Further, 26 additional Courts of Judicial Magistrate First Class have been set up in remote and topographically challenging districts.
Odisha CM said that the state has established Gramya Nyayalayas in remote areas of the State to cater to the rural population.

Orissa High Court has been strengthened with the construction of a litigant friendly Modern Court Complex and that the State has set up an impressive Odisha Judicial Academy for imparting quality training and capacity building of the Judicial officers. In addition, a State Level Mediation Centre and 21 District Level Mediation Centres have been operationalised for early disposal of cases in the State, the statement said.

It added the details of the important works in progress including the new proposed works like the construction works of 17 District Court Buildings covering all the newly created districts and a major judicial complex at Bhubaneswar to accommodate all the Courts under a single roof at a cost of about Rs 200 crore are currently under progress.

The State proposes to establish 29 new Courts including 4 Family Courts; Lok Adalats, Legal Literacy Camps and Legal Assistance Cells in every Gram Panchayat.
Odisha has agreed to bear all the recurring expenses required to implement e-Court projects beyond the period supported by the Central Government and to support digitization of records of the Orissa High Court, the statement said.