Students’ body battles for HC bench in Berhampur

Permanent bench of High court in Berhampur demanded

BERHAMPUR: South Orissa Students' Association (SOSA) has expressed its solidarity with the agitating lawyers of South Orissa and has demanded early establishment of a permanent bench of Orissa High court at Berhampur- the nerve centre of activities in southern part of the State. SOSA president RP Tripathy said southern Odisha has remained the forgotten frontier of the State with alarming levels of poverty and underdevelopment. While majority people of South Odisha are living under abject poverty and backwardness their genuine demands have been repeatedly overlooked by the state government. The students' body pointed out that lawyers had been demanding establishment of a High Court bench in the city for the past six decades. Both the lawyers and general public of south Orissa have resorted to agitations for this demand in the past. The SOSA activists urged the lawyers in Cuttack, especially the ones of the Orissa High Court, to get out of their insensitiveness towards the problems of people from far off areas to approach the High Court located in Cuttack. It may be noted that the Bar Association of the Orissa High Court and the Cuttack Bar Association boycotted courts on Monday to protest against the statement of Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily in favour of the establishment of High Court benches in Orissa during his visit to Sambalpur. The SOSA activists through a press release expressed surprise that how delivering justice at the doorstep of the poor through benches of the High Court could be opposed by them. They pointed out that former President of India V.V. Giri and former Chief Minister of Orissa Biju Patnaik had openly supported the demand for establishment of High Court bench in Berhampur. They alleged that delay in establishment of permanent benches of the High Court in parts of the state was depriving people of south Orissa their right to get justice at their doorstep.

While recommending a High Court Bench at Berhampur in 2007, the State government opined that there was an urgent need for this in view of the backwardness of the region, popular mood and large number of cases originating from here. As per SOSA, cases from south Orissa constitute more than 30 per cent of the total cases in the Orissa High Court. The geographical spread of south Orissa makes the need of a High Court bench in Berhampur an inevitable one. They said that Berhampur had all necessary infrastructure for the establishment of a permanent bench of the High Court and it was well connected to all parts of south Orissa. The SOSA urged the lawyers of the Orissa High Court to give up stubbornness and support the demand for the interest of the general public. They urged the Union Law Ministry and the State government to expedite the process of establishment of High Court benches in the State.

Sources: The Pioneer, The Hindu, OrissaDiary, KalingaTimes, OrissaBarta