Berhampur, Aug. 25: The Ganjam Bar Association, which had been agitating for a permanent bench of Orissa High Court in the city and observing token strike on the last four days of every month since 2008, submitted a memorandum to high court Chief Justice Amitav Roy in Gopalpur.

“Berhampur has all necessary infrastructure for the establishment of a permanent bench of the high court, and it was well connected to all parts of south Odisha, according to the recommendations of the Justice Jaswant Singh Commission. Cases from south Odisha constitute more than 30 per cent of the total cases in Orissa High Court. The geographical spread of south Odisha makes the need of a high court bench in Berhampur an inevitable one,” said association president Basant Panda.

“We pointed out that former President V.V. Giri and former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik had supported the demand for establishment of a high court bench in Berhampur. Naveen Patnaik assured us to set up the bench in Berhampur in 1997. The delay in establishment of permanent high court benches in the city was depriving local people of their right to get justice at their doorstep,” he said.

“Naveen forwarded a letter to the former Union law minister Kapil Sibal about establishment of high court benches in south and west Odisha in September last year — which is vague. Kapil gave a query to Naveen to mention the locations. But, Naveen is still silent on it, and he must make the ball roll again,” Panda said.

A meeting of the association’s general body will be held tomorrow to finalise its next course of action.