Cuttack: Advocates of Orissa High Court have launched a cease work, protesting against inaction in appointment of judges to fill up vacancies in the court.

The lawyers have abstained from attending court work since 2pm on Monday. The cease work will continue till February 19.

Orissa High Court has been functioning with less than 60 per cent of its sanctioned strength. Out of the 27 judge posts that are available, only 24 are in place.

High Court Bar Association president Srikant Kumar Sahu on Monday said: "The cease work has been launched as a mark of protest against non-appointment of judges for nearly three years."

Justice K.R. Mohapatra was last appointed on April 17, 2015. No names have been recommended to the Supreme Court collegiums for the post of judge since Justice Vineet Saran assumed office as the Chief Justice of high court on February 2, 2016.

The number of judges in the high court went down to 16 after Justice B.K. Nayak retired on February 1. The number will go down to 14 in the next five months with the retirement of Justice S.C. Parija on June 30 and Justice D.P. Choudhury on July 2.

"At this rate, with the number of pending cases and new cases being registered every day, litigants have to wait for years together to even get a hearing. The result is that people are losing faith in the judiciary," association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty said.

As on February 9, the number of cases pending in the high court was 1.69 lakh. While 300 cases are filed on an average every day, the disposal of cases is limited to less than 20.