Lawyers stage a demonstration near Assembly demanding a high court bench in west Odisha. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 29: Lawyers under the aegis of the central action committee of the various west Odisha bar associations today staged a demonstration in front of the Assembly demanding a permanent bench of Orissa High Court in the western region of the state.

Hundreds of lawyers, belonging to the seven districts of west Odisha, took part in the protest. A delegation of the lawyers met governor S.C. Jamir and submitted him a memorandum. They threatened to paralyse the government administration in seven districts if the government failed to fulfil their demand.

“We will stage demonstrations in Bhubaneswar for two days. If the government does not fulfil our demands by February 2, we will intensify our agitation from the next day. We will shut all government offices and banks,” said chairman of the central action committee of the Sambalpur District Bar Association Pradip Kumar Bohidar.

The Assembly is scheduled to to begin its interim budget session from February 3.

During the 11-day session, committee members will sit on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of the revenue divisional commissioner in Sambalpur.

“In September last year, the state government had sent a proposal letter to the Centre for establishment of a permanent bench of the high court in the region. The Union law minister had sought information from the state about specific location, availability of land and resources for infrastructure. But the state government has been maintaining silence on the matter,” said secretary of the committee Niranjan Tripathy.

The demand for setting up a permanent bench of the high court in west Odisha had intensified in August last year. As a result, the State Election Commission had decided to defer the urban civic elections in west Odisha. The lawyers had called off their agitation on September 29 after the state government had recommended to the centre favouring establishment of high court benches in southern and western parts of the state.