Cuttack, Sept. 28: Litigants in Odisha were left in the lurch today with lawyers in the state boycotting court work to protest against the state government's decision to abolish the Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT).

The litigants were left high and dry as proceedings were paralysed in Orissa High Court and subordinate courts across the state with lawyers abstaining from work for the day in support of the 19-day-old agitation of their peers practising at the OAT benches in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack against state government's decision.

Among hundreds of cases the high court could not proceed on, included one related to the government's decision to reduce the offer price of beer by 20 per cent in its excise policy for 2015-16. The court also could not take up a petition on alleged chaotic traffic management in Cuttack city.

The OAT Bar Associations in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack with around 1200 members are on strike since September 10 demanding withdrawal of government's decision. On September 9, the Odisha cabinet had given its nod to the proposal to abolish the tribunal, which was established on July 14, 1986.

State Bar Council chairman Manas Ranjan Mohapatra said that around 50,000 lawyers of 156 bar associations across joined the strike in solidarity. On the other hand, a delegation of state bar council met chief minister Naveen Patnaik and said lawyers would continue to wear black badges for the next 15 days.

High Court Bar Association secretary B.K. Ragada said: "We abstained from court work to express our support for the agitation by the OAT Bar Associations in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack."

Biraja Prasanna Satpathy, secretary of the Cuttack OAT Bar Association said: "The plea of pendency of cases for abolition of Odisha Administrative Tribunal is unjustified and unreasonable."

Surya Narayan Das, president of the Bhubaneswar OAT Bar Association said: "As on date 2,66,911 cases have been filedransferred to OAT. Of them only 58,234 cases are pending".

In a joint memorandum to the chief minister on September 19, the Bhubaneswar OAT Bar Association and the Bhubaneswar Bar Association stated: "The high court is heavily burdened with various cases. In such circumstances, decision for abolition of OAT with further decision to merge the establishment with high court is uncalled for."

They had urged the chief minister to withdraw the cabinet decision.