Orissa HC full bench seeks stands of govt, bar councils, associations on recurrent lawyers' strike

A full bench of the Orissa High Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the frequent strikes by lawyers in various courts in Odisha and issued notices to all 68 bar associations in the state. The bench comprising Chief Justice K S Jhaveri and all 13 judges of the high court also issued notices to state's chief secretary, law secretary and home secretary, seeking their stands on the recurrent malady afflicting the state.

Observing that frequent strikes by lawyers and stoppage of court works are obstructing the administration of justice, the bench also issued notices to the chairmen of the Bar Council of India and Odisha State Bar Council. The bench also sought to know as to why steps should not be taken against the lawyers for violating the Supreme Court's guidelines on the issue of obstruction of court works.

All the respondents have been asked to file their replies by October 21 and the high court's registry was directed to list the matter again on that day for further hearing. Earlier in the morning, the full bench assembled to take up a criminal contempt petition initiated by the high court's judicial registrar and arraigning the state government as well as bar councils and bar associations as respondents.

The members of the Odisha High Court Bar Association are on a strike since Monday protesting the selection of a New Delhi-based Odia advocate as the judge of the high court. The lawyers had also boycotted the court of the chief justice for several days earlier on the same issue.

The Odisha lawyers are opposed to the collegium system for the appointment of high court judges and have been demanding the implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). Last year, the judicial activities in the entire state were paralysed for months altogether due to lawyers' strikes.

Besides the ongoing strike by high court lawyers, members of several bars, particularly in the western and southern parts of the state, have been staging relay strikes for several years together demanding permanent benches of the high court in their respective areas. There have been instances in which the striking lawyers also resorted to bandh calls, paralysing normal lives of people and bringing the administrative machineries to a standstill.

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