Cuttack, Sept. 7: Work was affected in Orissa High Court as lawyers ceased work in the post-lunch session today as a mark of protest against "brutal assault" on their colleague in the city.

Two unidentified criminals allegedly attacked advocate Rajesh Mohanty near the Samrat Cinema in Madhupatna police limits around 10pm on September 2. Mohanty was returning home at Rajendranagar.

Among hundreds of cases, the high court could not proceed with the PIL on discharge of untreated sewage from the city into the Kathajodi river at Khannagar. On February 29, the court issued notices to the Cuttack Municipal Corporation to file response.

The Khannagar-Khapuria Industrial Area Puja Committee had filed the petition seeking the court's intervention as the sewage pushed into the river at Khannagar.

The polluted wastewater, which also carries solid waste, engulf their area which is an entry point to the city. The petition was listed today, but the court could not take it up for hearing in the absence of lawyers.

The court also could not proceed with monitoring the functioning of kalyan mandaps (banquet halls) in the city after making licence from the civic body mandatory for them to operate. On August 10, the court endorsed a draft guideline for issuing licence to the 180-odd kalyan mandaps in the city.

In the absence of lawyers, the court today could also not take stock of the corporation's progress in enforcing the guidelines and granting licence to the kalyan mandaps. The court was adjudicating on a petition seeking intervention against the marriage halls as they were functioning without licence and creating traffic chaos by increasing congestion on roads in various parts of the city. The approach roads to the mandaps, mostly used for marriage celebrations and social functions, were also not suitable for parking vehicles.

High Court Bar Association secretary Bijay Kumar Ragada said: "We abstained from work today from 2pm, condemning the brutal assault on Rajesh Mohanty and inaction of the police in the matter."

"Court work will be resume tomorrow," Ragada said.

The association's general body, in its meeting today, passed a resolution, demanding "a fair, proper, impartial investigation" and immediate arrest of the culprits. The association also urged the police commissioner and the deputy commissioner of police "for immediate intervention in the matter".