The new Orissa High Court building in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 11: Concern over persisting vacancies in the sanctioned number posts for judges marked the inauguration of a new seven-storey building of Orissa High Court here today.

Established with four judges in 1948, the high court today has 13 judges, including the chief justice, against the sanctioned strength of 22 judges.

Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir today inaugurated the new building of the high court in the presence of governor Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Justice A.K. Patnaik of Supreme Court.

Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said his government had been giving priority to improving the system of delivering justice. “The new building is a step in this direction,” he said, hoping that it would help in dealing with the ever-increasing load of cases in the high court.

The main building of the high court has 11 courtrooms while the new building has 22 courtrooms and 22 chambers along with lounges for judges. The project cost of the new building is about Rs 64 crore, of which the state government is providing 50 per cent.

Justice A.K. Patnaik, however, said that if no new appointments were made and the 22 judges’ posts were not filled up, the new building would have no utility.

In the absence of judges, the number of civil and criminal cases pending before Orissa High Court had gone up to 3.22 lakh by September 2012. The number of cases instituted every day had also far exceeded the number of cases disposed, said Justice Patnaik.

Governor Bhandare said: “The high court has 10 vacancies at present. Not filling up vacancies in time is a matter of grave concern for the litigant public.” He hoped that the vacancies would be filled up shortly.

Chief Justice Kabir also said the problem of vacant seats of judges should be addressed soon.

He expressed concern over the number of litigations vis-à-vis the increase in population in the country. “The situation is akin to a pressure cooker which is going to burst if there is no safety valve,” the Chief Justice said, while suggesting an alternative dispute redress system as a safety valve.

Among others present on the occasion were chief secretary Bijay Patnaik, home secretary U.N. Behera, director-general of police Prakash Mishra and a number of judges of the high court.