Kosal Discussion and Development Forum

Sambalpur bar association take out rally supporting Moily

July 23, 2010 at 6:57 pm sanjibkarmee Leave a comment

Following is a report from http://lawetalnews.com:

Supporting the statement given by Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily for setting up a permanent bench of High Court in Sambalpur, the members of Sambalpur Bar Association today took out a rally in support of the Minister. The members of bar association arranged a motor cycle rally and gave a memorandum to the district collector Sambalpur. More than 400 advocates participated in this rally and raised slogans in support of the Union Law Minister.

In this memorandum the advocates welcomed Moily’s statement and asked the government to take necessary steps in this regard.

The Union Law Minister on July 14 had said that a bench of High Court of Orissa would be set up in Western Orissa. Later in a resolution passed in the general meeting of Orissa High Court Bar Association (OHCBA) the bar had condemned Moily’s statement stated as unfortunate and went on strike on Monday.

Talking to Law et al. News, the president of Sambalpur Bar Association Advocate Niranjan Tripathy said that the OHCBA is misinterpreting the Jaswant Committee report and the decision of Bhawani Shankar Tripathy vs. the State of Orissa where a division bench had taken the view that the existing High Should not be shifted.

Criticizing the stand taken by the OHCBA the General Secretary Sambalpur Bar Association Dilip Kumar Bishi said that the OHCBA is wrong in saying that a bench cannot be established within a radius of 500 kms from the existing court as well as at least one third cases should originate from the place where the new bench is sought to be established is totally wrong. Giving the example of the formation of Orissa High Court from Patna High Court he said that at that time less than four per cent cases of Orissa were pending in Patna High Court.

Briefing the bar about the history regarding the controversy of setting up a High Court Bench in Sambalpur the Secretary and other senior members of the bar stated that the struggle of establishing a High Court started in the year 1959 when some Bar Association of western part of Orissa took an initiative to start a circuit court in Sambalpur, and from the year 1993 the existing Bar Associations are demanding a permanent bench. In the year 2004 again 37 Bar Associations of western part of Orissa approached the government to establish a permanent bench of High Court in Sambalpur. The members also said that in 1989 election setting up a bench of High Court at Sambalpur was part of the election manifesto of the then Janata Dal headed by ex Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.

Entry filed under: Judicial and Legal Service, Permanent bench of the High Court, Region watch, Sambalpur.