Cuttack, July 26: Orissa High Court today observed its 70th foundation day by paying floral tributes before the statue of its first Chief Justice Bira Kishore Ray, whose death anniversary is also today.

Chief Justice Vineet Saran, other judges and High Court Bar Association president Ashok Parija garlanded Justice Ray's statue on the court premises.

"Justice Bira Kishore Ray, the first advocate-general of the new Odisha province, was the first Odia to become a judge of Orissa High Court on July 26, 1948. He died on July 26, a decade later, on the tenth foundation day of Orissa High Court in 1958," said Bijaya Kumar Ragada, lawyer and secretary of the Justice B.K. Ray memorial committee.

When the circuit court of Patna High Court had its first sitting in Cuttack on May 18, 1916, Madhusudan Das, the then president of the Cuttack Bar Association, had expressed the hope that the circuit court would become a permanent bench for Orissa in the near future.

But, Orissa was not given a separate high court when it was made a province on April 1, 1936. The High Court Bar Association in Cuttack demanded a separate high court by passing a resolution on July 26, 1938.

"It was only on April 30, 1948, that the Government of India first declared a court for the province for Orissa. Initially it was declared to function from July 5, 1948. But subsequently, by an Orissa High Court (Amendment) Order, the date was changed and H.J. Kania, the then Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India, inaugurated Orissa High Court on July 26, 1948," said Chittaranjan Mohanty, a high court lawyer.

Established with four judges, Orissa High Court now has 19 judges, including the Chief Justice, against a sanctioned strength of 22.

Functioning of the court proceedings was shifted to a new seven-story high court building adjacent to the old one since January 2, 2014.

Built at a cost of Rs 64 crore, the new building has a 1.68 lakh sqft carpet area.