Balangir family court. Telegraph picture

Balangir, July 7: Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash of Orissa High Court inaugurated the family court on the premises of the district sessions judge court here yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Mishra said that family courts would be set up in all the 30 districts of the state.

“In the first phase, the courts would be set up in the 13 districts. The remaining districts will be covered in the next phase,” he said.

“Earlier, all cases relating to family disputes used to be tried in the court of the civil judge (senior division). But from now, the family courts will take up these cases so that these are disposed of quickly. A senior district judge will act as the judge of the family court,” he added.

Reacting to the agitation by the lawyers of the Titilagarh sub-division regarding shifting of a family court from their area, the judge said that a certain volume of cases were required to run a court.

“If there is a flow of cases from Titilagarh, then there is no problem in setting up a court there. I have no idea about the agitation there,” he said, while urging the lawyers to call off their agitation and start a dialogue with the authorities.

However, lawyers of Titilagarh continued their protest against shifting of family-related disputes from their area to the Balangir family court. They wore black badges to express their protest against the decision of the government.

Members of the Titilagarh Bar Association and various women’s organisations took up a rally protesting the decision of the government.

The bar association president Kishor Chandra Panda said that Titilagarh was the largest sub-division of the state and people would find it difficult to go to Balangir to resolve their disputes.

Panda said: “We are not opposing the establishment of a family court in Balangir. We are advocating for exclusion of Titilagarh area from the family court established in Balangir. We have the adequate number of cases here that are required to run a family court. There are 182 cases related to family matters only in the Titilagarh sub-division against 130 cases in Balangir and Patnagarh sub-divisions taken together,” he said.